Almost 300,000 people displaced by Libya violence, UN

100,000 displaced near Tripoli in last three weeks alone as service provision crumbles under pressure.

A spike in clashes between rival militias in Libya has pushed the number of people driven from their homes to an estimated 287,000, the United Nations' refugee agency said Friday.

UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards told reporters that some 100,000 people had fled over the past three weeks from Warshefana, on the outskirts of the capital Tripoli.

Another 15,000 people were estimated to have been displaced around Libya's eastern city of Benghazi, he said.

The oil-rich North African nation of some six million peopla has been in turmoil since an uprising toppled longtime leader Moamer Gaddafi three years ago, with interim authorities facing powerful militias that fought to oust him.

A total of some 287,000 people are estimated to have fled conflict and are scattered in 29 towns and cities countrywide, many of them in dire straits, he said.

"The need for healthcare, food, and other basic commodities - plus for shelter ahead of winter - has become critical," said Edwards.

He said aid agencies were working flat out to help those in need but faced "major constraints in funding for the internally displaced, while the security situation over recent months has posed challenges in reaching those in need."

Most displaced people are living with locals who in some cases have opened their homes to several families at a time to meet the growing need for shelter, Edwards said.

Those unable to stay with relatives or host families were sleeping in schools, parks and non-residential buildings converted into emergency shelters.

Host communities were finding themselves swamped, Edwards said, giving the example of the small town of Ajaylat, some 80 kilometres west of Tripoli.

The community of around 100,000 people had taken in 16,000 more who fled fighting, placing a massive strain on health facilities.

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