Rebels lose ground in Libya
* NATO chief says attack on civilians can amount to war crimes
* At least two children killed in airstrike
RAS LANUF: Libyan rebels ceded ground to Muammar Gaddafi’s advancing forces on Monday as the US came under increasing pressure to arm the opposition and the UN appointed a humanitarian envoy.
World oil prices rose again, while NATO head Anders Fogh Rasmussen said attacks on civilians by Gaddafi’s troops could amount to crimes against humanity. The rebels began pulling back from the key oil port of Ras Lanuf as fighter jets targeted defences on the edge of town, throwing up palls of smoke amid fears that government forces were preparing an attack. There were casualties, including at least two children, in one airstrike on a civilian car, witnesses said.
After the bloodiest fighting of the three-week-old conflict on Sunday, the UN demanded urgent access to scores of “injured and dying” in the western city of Misrata. A doctor said 21 people, including a child, had been killed in shelling and clashes in Misrata on Sunday, and 91 people wounded. “The overwhelming majority of them are civilians, including a boy aged two and a half,” he said of the casualties in Libya’s third city which had been shelled by Gaddafi tanks.
“These widespread and systematic attacks against the civilian population may amount to crimes against humanity,” Rasmussen told a news conference at NATO headquarters.
He said the “outrageous” response of Gaddafi’s regime to protests had created “a human crisis on our doorstep which concerns us all,” and reiterated his strongest condemnation.
The UN called for $160 million (114 million euros) to cover relief support including shelter, food and sanitation for refugees as well as others who remain trapped in the strife-torn north African country. afp
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