Benghazi port sends aid to besieged western bastion

* Rebel national council declines comment on arms shipments
* Hundreds of civilians said to have died in Misrata siege

By Alexander Dziadosz

BENGHAZI, Libya, April 14 (Reuters) - Fishing ships and tugboats loaded with weapons, food and medicine are leaving the rebel stronghold of Benghazi in eastern Libya to help relieve the western city of Misrata, port workers and witnesses said.

Hundreds of civilians are reported to have died during a six-week siege of Misrata, the lone rebel bastion in the west, even as fighting between insurgents and forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi has ground toward a stalemate in the east.

This reporter saw pickup trucks bring rocket launchers and ammunition crates to a Benghazi port on Thursday, where men loaded them onto a boat bearing the red, black and green rebel flag. Port workers said the arms came from local storehouses.

"Zawiyah lasted about a month and then it fell. Why? Because there is no channel to give them weapons," said Mohamed Ali, a defected navy commander helping to oversee the harbor.

"If Misrata didn't get help from here, it would fall like Zawiyah."

A rebel spokesman, Mustafa Gheriani, said the Benghazi-based national council, had no comment on any arms shipment to Misrata but suggested private individuals may be providing weapons. Most ships are only bringing humanitarian aid, port workers said.

One tugboat's crew said the ship was headed to Misrata, but declined to give details about the shipment because they were afraid the information would be used to target them.

"These aren't weapons, this is baby milk," one crew member said, gesturing to a box labeled as ammunition. The ship's captain later said the boat was taking weapons to Misrata.

Most of the weapons on board appeared to be the sort of Cold War-era rockets and firearms often seen on Libya's front lines, where insurgents say they need heavier weapons to have any real hope of defeating Gaddafi's better armed and trained troops.

Rebel leaders have hinted that some countries are willing to arm the opposition, but there has been no visible sign of major weapons shipments into eastern Libya so far.

Ali, the ex-navy officer, said more than a dozen boats had left Benghazi for Misrata so far, with about two or three going every week depending on the weather. Most were only carrying humanitarian aid like medicine and baby milk, he said.

SELF-PROTECTION

Rebels cheered and waved as one boat pulled out of the harbor on Thursday. The boat's owner, who gave his name as Nagai, said the ship was carrying mostly medicine and food, and that guns and ammunition on board were for self-protection.

"Every time we go to the Misrata port, they (Gaddafi's forces) start to shoot at us, so we try to protect ourselves," he said. "We stay only two or three hours, quickly, and then we escape again."

Like others at the port, Nagai said he was a volunteer. He said his boat, previously used for fishing, encountered rocket fire on previous trips into the city. Rebels in Misrata said an attack with Russian-made Grads killed at least 23 people there on Thursday.

"A lot of these boats are individual efforts," spokesman Gheriani said, noting that many Libyans had armed themselves from abandoned government armories since the uprising began.

An aid committee formed by the national council has been using fishing boats to send humanitarian aid into Misrata, where medicine and food are scarce, and has also evacuated residents.

A rescue ship is on its way to begin evacuating 6,000 migrants stranded in the city, the International Organization for Migration said on Thursday.

Gheriani said rebels needed more help from international groups to provide humanitarian aid in the western city.

"You've seen the size of these boats," he said, referring to the fishing vessels heading to Misrata. "It's not enough."

Source: Reuters.
Link: http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFLDE73D25520110414?sp=true.