The international community mobilized Thursday to help the people of Misrata, Libyan city besieged by the forces of Colonel Gaddafi that Washington once again called upon to relinquish power.
While the front line between rebel and loyalist forces has stabilized over the last week in the region of Brega (east), the town of Misrata, shelled relentlessly for a month and a half by the regular army, is now the object of attention.
Following in the footsteps of NATO, which has made Misrata his "number one priority," the UN has called for a cessation of hostilities around the city.
"The situation on the ground is critical for a large number of people who are in immediate need of food, water and emergency medical assistance," said assistant general secretary of the UN Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos. "The ability to leave the city is now a matter of life or death."
Rebels and humanitarian alert for weeks the international community to the plight of some 300,000 inhabitants of this city, several hundred were killed or wounded by fighting in their view.
The rebel military commander, Gen. Abdel Fattah Younes, was charged Tuesday in very harsh terms the Atlantic Alliance to "let people die of Misrata.More generally, he expressed his disappointment at the action of NATO, which took control of military operations last Thursday.
Piqued, NATO had promised to "do everything possible to protect civilians in Misrata," according to a UN mandate, but stressed that the Gaddafi regime was using human shields, making air strikes delicate.
To relieve the population will be replenished Misrata by the Sea by insurgents from Benghazi, 260 nautical miles (480 km) further east, had said Wednesday the French Minister of Defence Gerard Longuet.
"Previously, the reading of the embargo was that no boat could not supply any city," he said.
In the military port of Benghazi two fishing vessels and a tug waiting on Thursday that the swell to head back to Misrata calm, despite the firing forces of Tripoli, according to an AFP journalist on the spot.
"We sent the first ships a month ago. We are in contact with Misrata by satellite phone. They tell us what they need, if we find we can and organized convoys of ships," explains the AFP Captain Mustapha Omar.
"The first trips, we have not had any problems. Then we have repeatedly had to turn back because of the warships of Gaddafi.But the French navy has escorted two weeks ago, one of our boats, "said Capt. Omar." That we will never forget. "
The U.S. has meanwhile rejected curtly demands of Colonel Gaddafi, who in a long letter urged Washington to end the allied air strikes by the U.S. media.
"There is no mystery about what is expected to present Mr.Gaddafi, "retorted the chief diplomat Hillary Clinton at a press conference:" Earlier the bloodshed cease, and the better for everybody. "
Gaddafi should opt for a cease-fire, withdrawal of his troops, and "a decision must be made for its departure from power and (...) leaving Libya," she insisted.
The U.S. military had withdrawn Monday that fighter jets were involved in the international operation in Libya.It should now provide more than had intended to conduct air refueling missions as well as jamming and surveillance.
The next meeting of the Contact Group on Libya-established to ensure "political leadership" from the international civilian and military action in Libya, with Nato for "arm" - will be held April 13 in Doha, said Thursday the head of French diplomacy, Alain Juppe.
The Libyan regime, target since February 15 of a popular uprising that turned into a civil war, said he was ready for dialogue provided that the rebels disarm.
On Wednesday, Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaaim, accused British forces of bombing oil installations in the field of Al-Sarir (southeast). These strikes have killed three and wounded and material damage on the pipeline leading to the oil port of Tobruk controlled by the rebels, he said.
The previous day, a tanker had left the region of Tobruk with the first shipment of oil under rebel control since the airstrikes began mid-March.
