20110519
press tv
The United Nations is holding negotiations with the Libyan regime, the revolutionary forces and the NATO to halt the fighting in the North African country to get humanitarian aid to civilians.

The UN humanitarian coordinator for Libya, Panos Moumtzis, said Wednesday that he would ask the Libyan regime to provide security for the UN aid workers to access the opposition-held city of Misratah in the talks he is scheduled to hold on Friday, Reuters reported.

"The humanitarian pause is driven by humanitarian principles and the need to be able to provide urgently needed life-saving assistance to the civilian population," Moumtzis said, refusing to reveal a start date for such a window in the fighting.

Moumtzis pointed out that a gap in the battle, which might last one to three days, will allow the evacuation of migrants, the injured and those seeking to leave the battlefield.

Fighting flared again in Libya's western besieged city of Misratah on Tuesday, leading to the death of several revolutionary forces, medical sources said.

The humanitarian crisis has been aggravating in Misratah as the only way to dispatch food and medical supplies to residents through the city's port has been blocked by loyalists of Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi.

The UN was forced to pull its international staff out of the Libyan capital city, Tripoli, on May 1 when its offices came under attack by people outraged at the killing of Gaddafi's youngest son in one of NATO strikes.