For the time being, US measures in Libya will be limited to humanitarian assistance and will likely be multinational, defense officials told the Los Angeles Times. Two US warships moved closer to Libya on March 2 to assist with evacuations and humanitarian relief. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates cautioned against reading any sort of military intervention into the action.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said March 1 that the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has set aside $10 million in relief funds and that experts are being sent to Libya’s borders to assess the refugee situation and determine how to deliver aid, The Washington Post reported.
Meanwhile, the EU announced Wednesday it would more than triple its humanitarian aid funds allocated for Libya’s refugees, bringing the total to about $14 million, wire agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported. The EU’s humanitarian commissioner will be dispatched to the region later this week.
Britain and France on Wednesday pledged to provide planes to assist with the return of Egyptian refugees amassed on Libya-Tunisia border, where local organizations are overwhelmed and aid groups have declared a “humanitarian emergency,” according to the BBC.
