BUDAPEST - UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Monday called for an immediate ceasefire and a political solution to the conflict in Libya and said the United Nations would open a humanitarian mission in Tripoli.
"We have three objectives: first, an immediate, effective ceasefire; second, to extend our humanitarian assistance to the needy; third, we have to continue to have a political dialogue and a political resolution to the issue," Ban told reporters on a three-day visit to Hungary. "Considering the magnitude of the crisis if the fighting continues, it is absolutely necessary that Libyan authorities stop fighting and killing people," he said. With efforts to find a political solution continuing, Ban called for international action "in concert and coordination with the Libyan people". "Once a ceasefire is reached, Libya will need wide-ranging efforts in peace-making and peace-keeping as well as reconstruction," he said. There were tens of thousands of people in need of humanitarian assistance, the UN chief said. "We have a serious problem," he added, especially in towns directly caught up in the fighting. Ban said the UN -- which already has a humanitarian base in Benghazi to cater for nearly half a million people who have fled their homes -- would also set up a mission in Tripoli with the Red Cross and the Red Crescent.
