The besieged Libyan city of Bani Walid has been plunged into chaos. SW
the former Gaddafi regime stronghold is under attack by militias bolstered by
foreign mercenaries, and they used banned weapons like white phosphorous.
The sources denied reports of the last few
days that Bani Walid was retaken by the Libyan government. Residents said that
militia forces have continued their assault, while preventing the refugees who
fled from reentering the city.
A man who claimed his relatives are trapped
inside the besieged city spoke with RT, saying, “There is no food; there is nothing to support the life of people. And
the militia does not allow anyone to come back to their homes.”
“They are demolishing
homes with machinery and tanks. There is no communication or internet so people
are not able to connect with each other,” the source said. He is currently in Egypt, and refuses to reveal his identity over fears of
personal safety.
He believes the real reason for the
inoperable communications is that many people have been killed inside Bani
Walid by the forces besieging the city and now they are trying to prevent
information about the killings to be leaked outside.
The militia attackers have claimed they are
battling ‘pro-Gaddafi’ forces, but the source slammed that motive as a “lie and
a dirty game.”
“They use foreign
snipers, I think from Qatar or Turkey, with Qatar covering all the costs,” he said. He claimed that a ship with weapons and other
equipment recently docked in the port city of Misrata, where the assault on Bani Walid is allegedly being
directed.
“There is no government
in Libya. Groups of militia control everything.
They don’t care about Libya, they don’t care about the nation,”
he said, adding allegations that the
majority of militia fighters have dual citizenship or passports from other
countries.
“We ask the envoy
[Special Representative] of the Secretary-General of the United Nations [for Libya] Mr. Tarik Mitri – where is he
now?” he said. “Where is the United Nations? Where is the EU? Where
is the Human Rights Watch? We ask for an intervention now as soon as possible –
please!”
In an October 23 UN session, the US blocked a statement on the violence in Bani Walid
drafted by Russia, which condemned the ongoing conflict in the city and
calling for a peaceful resolution.
Witnesses claim militia used chemical weapons in Bani Walid
“I can confirm that
pro-government militias used internationally prohibited weapons. They used
phosphorus bombs and nerve gas. We have documented all this in videos, we
recorded the missiles they used and the white phosphorus raining down from
these missiles,” Bani Walid-based
activist and lawyer Afaf Yusef told RT.
“Many people died
without being wounded or shot, they died as a result of gases. The whole world
needs to see who they are targeting. Are they really Gaddafi's men? Are the
children, women and old men killed – Gaddafi's men?” Yusef said.
The forces attacking Bani Walid have been
ordered to use “all means necessary” in their assault on the city. “To all parasites and leaches, a message to all of
them across Libya, wherever they are: Whoever you
are, however strong you are, and whoever your back is – the revolution should
win,” a militant said in the TV
report.
Looming humanitarian catastrophe in Bani Walid
The humanitarian situation outside Bani Walid
is reportedly nearly as dire as that within the besieged city. Those who
managed to flee the violence now find themselves stranded on the desert roads
outside the city.
Thousands of Bani Walid residents have
reportedly tried to reenter the city, but were stopped at makeshift militia
checkpoints composed of pickup trucks armed with mounted machine-guns.
“Look at the people
over there, they got a gun and they’re shooting at people with it,” a Bani Walid resident said, pointing in the direction
of a checkpoint. He claimed that those who fled the city had been forced to
stay in the desert for more than a week.
“Where is the government?”
he said.
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