Aid floods into Tripoli, hospitals reopen as fighting ends in Libya's capital city

Aug 31 2011

"Tripoli's hospitals have put the worst behind them after an end to the fighting in Libya's capital opened the way to a flood of aid and enabled medical staff to get back to work, aid agencies said on Monday," Reuters reports, adding, "Although the violence in Tripoli has not completely ended, the relative peace has reassured aid agencies that they can now get into the capital."

"The World Food Programme has sent ... 23 trucks carrying 500 tons of food and five water tankers, ... [the] World Health Organization was sending 45 tons of medical supplies as part of the same effort, a spokesman said, and supplies from [Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)] may add a further 10 tons in the next few days," the news agency writes. "The effort to bring foreign aid is continuing despite the revelation last week that rebel fighters had found massive stores of food, fuel and medicine in Tripoli" because "the United Nations and aid agencies said they had no information about this stockpile and no knowledge that the rebels had cracked the stash open to help relieve the capital," according to Reuters (Miles, 8/29).