Libya: Children the First Casualties of the War Against Gaddafi?

While the West and the rebels hunt Colonel Gaddafi down, less attention is given to the most vulnerable people affected by the conflict: the children.

With a humanitarian situation deteriorating by the day, and an atmosphere of hostility and violence that is dragging on, the Libyan children are suffering from serious trauma, after months of conflicts that have culminated in the rebels taking over Tripoli.

Doctors, charity workers and rights group activists have warned a majority suffer from nightmares, separation, and bed-wetting.

In the current situation however a large majority do not have access to the necessary psychological and physical medical help.

Thousands of children have fled the conflict zones as confrontations between the pro and anti Gaddafi forces intensified, ending up being separated from their family and outside of their usual environment.

Emma Mumford, Save the Children's humanitarian advisor on Libya warned "The upsurge in violence in Tripoli over the past few days poses grave danger to children living in the city. We are already hearing reports of children being killed and injured in the fighting.

"We cannot currently access Tripoli safely, but we know from our experience in other parts of Libya in recent months that children caught up in such unrest are often deeply disturbed by their experiences and it can take them months to recover.

"It is essential that everyone involved ensures that children are kept safe during these turbulent times, and that humanitarian agencies are given safe access to the city as soon as possible."

Save the Children said it is working from Benghazi, Eastern Libya, and is preparing to send a team to Tripoli as soon as it is safe to do so.

"We're helping children to recover psychologically from the trauma of warfare - by providing counselling for affected children, training volunteers so we can reach even more children, and giving children safe areas to play and be children again", a statement from the organisation also read.

Unfortunately the ramifications of the conflict are starting to show and once again the most vulnerable are the most affected. A lot of effort will be needed to rebuild the Libyan society and children need to be prioritised.

While Nato until now mainly used its military capacities to help protect civilians caught up in the conflict in Libya, the Alliance has insisted it has also planned to provide humanitarian insistence, once the National Transitional Council officially takes control of the country.

Meanwhile, denouncing the urgency of the situation the International Committee of the Red Cross announced Tuesday that their team had started providing medical facilities in Tripoli.

"Today, our team started providing medical facilities, including the Abu Slim Trauma Centre, with some of the supplies they need in order to treat casualties. We are delivering enough medical supplies to treat at least 300 casualties. The consignments include surgical kits, dressing materials and intravenous fluids," announced George Comninos, the ICRC's head of delegation in Tripoli.

"In one of the hospitals we visited today, only one doctor was left to look after 25 patients, including 15 seriously wounded," Comninos added. "We are mobilizing a complete surgical team to support the medical staff and help hospitals cope with the situation."

Now that the rebels have ousted Gaddafi, they will have to continue pushing on for the NTC to assert its authorities and bring back some kind of stability and security so the attention can move to helping those the most affected by the conflict.