'4 lakh people fled Libya'

Some 400,000 people have fled the violence in Libya, the UN said on Friday.

Some 400,000 people have fled the violence in Libya, the UN said on Friday.

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Some 83,000 foreign nationals have been repatriated, but 12,000 more remain at the border transit points and are in need of evacuation, Xinhua reported quoting the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

The World Food Program (WFP) has delivered food in the violence-hit eastern Libya and is also providing logistics and telecommunications support to humanitarian workers.

WFP and the Libyan Red Crescent plan to reach out to 85,000 people who are in need of food in Benghazi, a rebel stronghold in eastern Libya, in the coming days.

Libya is a food deficit country heavily reliant on imports, according to the Rome-based agency. To feed a population of about 6.6 million, an estimated 110,000 tonnes of food are required monthly, of which at least 75 % are imported.

The UN refugee agency UNHCR has warned that thousands of people could be trapped in areas rocked by clashes.