TRIPOLI, Libya — An aid ship dodged Libyan government rockets and shells as it evacuated hundreds of migrant workers and wounded civilians from the besieged port city of Misrata on Wednesday, but it was forced to leave behind hundreds of others desperate to leave.
The Red Star 1, operated by the International Organization for Migration, had docked to deliver humanitarian assistance and evacuate civilians, after waiting since Saturday because of shelling and mines that were laid in the harbor by forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.
Even as it docked, more shells landed just short of the port, killing five foreigners, including two young African children, waiting to be evacuated from a relief camp, witnesses said. Two Libyan civilians also died in shelling Wednesday in Misrata.
“It was absolutely chaotic,” said rebel spokesman Mohamed Ali, who was at the port when the boat docked. “It’s so distressing seeing young children killed in this murderous way.”
The dead included a 3-year-old boy, a girl about 2 and their father. The children’s mother was wounded.
“We were just sitting there when the bombs came down,” Saka Yossie, a 27-year-old Ghanaian, told The Associated Press. “They died right in front of us.”
Yossie said he had spent six weeks in the camp, sleeping in a tent with little food and water. “Now I thank God for taking me from this place,” he said as he stepped onto the ferry.
The Gadhafi regime has threatened to attack any ships using Misrata’s port because the rebels also use the Mediterranean Sea to bring in arms, ammunition and fighters.
The government says aid can be delivered over land but has not offered any pause in the shelling of Misrata to allow that to happen. The U.S. State Department condemned the “brutal attacks on civilians” and the delays to the relief effort caused by the mining and shelling of the Misrata port.
At a meeting of the United Nations Security Council, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said Gadhafi’s security forces had systematically attacked and killed peaceful protesters since their crackdown began in mid-February.
Luis Moreno-Ocampo said that civilians in government-controlled areas are subject to systematic arrests, torture, killings and enforced disappearances, and said he would seek arrest warrants in coming weeks against three Libyans who he said appear to bear “the greatest criminal responsibility” for crimes against humanity. He did not name them.
