UNICEF says 500,000 children face ‘immediate danger’ in Libya capital due to fighting

Half a million children are in “immediate danger” in Libya’s capital Tripoli due to fighting, the UN children’s fund said Monday. Clashes that broke out between rival militias in late August had killed at least 115 people and wounded nearly 400 by Saturday night, according to Libya’s Health Ministry. UNICEF said Monday that “over 1,200 families have been displaced in the past 48 hours alone as clashes intensified in southern Tripoli,” AFP reported. That brings the total number of people displaced by the recent fighting to over 25,000, half of whom are children. “More children are reportedly being recruited to fight, putting them in immediate danger. At least one child was killed as a result,” said Geert Cappelaere, the UN agency’s Middle East and North Africa director. Schools are increasingly being used to shelter displaced families, residents are facing food, power and water shortages, and the clashes have exacerbated the plight of migrants.