GENEVA, Switzerland, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- The U.N. Refugee Agency announced Friday that increased violence among rival groups in Libya has resulted in the displacement of an estimated 287,000 people.
More than 100,000 of those were displaced in the past three weeks, UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards noted Friday during a news conference in Geneva.
The worst affected areas, he said, have been on the outskirts of Tripoli, in the Warshefana area, and in the Benina area outside Benghazi.
UNHCR has worked in partnership with the International Medical Corps and the World Food Program to provide relief to the displaced. While Edwards points out that "additional help is needed," relief workers must also contend with a volatile security situation.
"Efforts to assist the displaced are hampered by limited access for humanitarians to towns affected by fighting between rival armed groups."
In order to ensure relief workers can get to the areas most in need, he noted that the U.N. Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) has called for an immediate cease-fire.
In addition to the displaced, the U.N. has also expressed concern about the welfare and safety of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants that arrived in Libya from other countries. Because of Libya's refugee and migrant detention, many desperate to flee Libya "put their lives in the hands of smugglers to try to get to Europe."
According to the International Organization for Migration, the migration route to Europe is the "most dangerous," with more than 3,000 deaths recorded in 2014 of those attempting to cross the Mediterranean into Europe.
