Sanctions causing deaths in Libya

Reuters reported on October 20 that four members of the British parliament who visited Libya said they had learned that at least 200 Libyan civilians had died so far as a result of UN sanctions imposed on April 15.

The MPs called on the United Nations to lift the sanctions against Libya, which include a ban on international flights and on the sale of spare parts and maintenance supplies for aircraft.

In a report on their visit in September, the four said a lack of spare parts had crippled Libya's air ambulance service; severely ill patients were forced to make long journeys by road to receive treatment in Tripoli.

The report also quoted the director of Tripoli's burns and plastic surgery centre as attributing 24 deaths to non-availability of special drugs and 12 to inability to use the air ambulance.

Libya's foreign minister was quoted as saying that a further 150 people had died while being transported by road to Tunisia or Egypt for medical treatment.
[From reports on Pegasus.]

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