US humanitarian assistance to Libya now is $47 mn

The US has extended its humanitarian aid budget for Libya, announcing $17 million in donations to relief agencies, taking the total earmarked so far to $47 million, the State Department has said.

"The US is now providing a total of $47 million in emergency assistance for the humanitarian needs of conflict victims, vulnerable migrants, and others displaced by the increasing civil unrest in Libya," it said yesterday.

The new funds include a $10 million contribution toward the UN World Food Programme's emergency food operations and USD two million to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in response to the UN Regional Flash Appeal for the Libyan Crisis, and $5 million to the International Committee of the Red Cross, it said.

Noting that the third country nationals, who have fled the violence in Libya continue to require evacuation to their home countries, the State Department said that the US is working with these countries, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and other international partners to assist these people to go home.

"The United States is now providing $13 million to IOM to support the transportation of thousands of people from Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, who fled from Libya and are now in Tunisia and Egypt.

Along with these, $7 million had been provided to UNHCR, which is working in both Tunisia and Egypt, including managing the transit centre in Tunisia near the Tunisia-Libya border, that is currently providing basic services to thousands of migrants; and another $7 million for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to meet the humanitarian needs in the region arising from the unrest and armed confrontations in Libya," it reported.

As part of the $47 million, the United States has diverted $10 million to support international and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working to meet humanitarian needs.

"We are directly funding key NGOs operating inside Libya, building their capacity and strengthening the provision of humanitarian assistance," the State Department said.

Further, the US has deployed a Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) to the region to identify the humanitarian needs and to coordinate the international efforts to ensure the people suffering from this crisis are provided humanitarian assistance as quickly as possible.