Shabab Libya

 

WASHINGTON — The United States should step up efforts to aid wounded Libyan rebels by deploying a hospital ship to treat them and helping them get to European medical facilities, US Senator John McCain said Monday.

“This is an urgent humanitarian need,” McCain, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement after Libya’s transitional government and NATO inked a deal opening part of the country’s airspace.

“I continue to urge the administration to take immediate steps, including the deployment of a US hospital ship to Libya or Malta and transporting wounded Libyans to US medical facilities in Europe, that help Libyans who have been wounded in this conflict receive the urgent care they need,” said the senator.

Libya’s interim government said last week that parts of the wartorn country’s airspace have reopened to commercial flights after it signed an agreement with NATO officials in Malta.

The agreement became effective despite the United Nations’ no-fly zone over Libya, which was passed in March and cleared the way for NATO air strikes on the forces of former Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi.

A senior NATO official said Thursday’s agreement would help to guarantee the provision of humanitarian aid to Libya.

Source AFP