About 10 million euros (14 million dollars) in humanitarian aid is ready to be disbursed in Tripoli and other coastal cities recently captured by Libyan rebels, the European Union's executive said Wednesday, DPA reported.
The initial focus will be on providing hospitals with medical supplies, as they are expected to be facing "a probable large number of war-wounded and with the immediate emergency needs of the general population," the European Commission said in a statement.
"Another priority will be protection, including education on demining and identification of risk areas allowing for the safe return of civilians," it added.
On Monday, a Doctors Without Borders' coordinator in Tripoli told the German Press Agency dpa that the situation in the city was "quite concerning" as staff had deserted hospitals and supplies were "running quite short."
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said Tuesday Libya was not expected to need significant amounts of aid in the post-conflict phase, as it was set to regain control of "a lot of resources" with the scrapping of asset freezes.
The United States said it would, "in the coming days," hand over to rebel groups between 1 and 1.5 billion dollars' worth of assets that were snatched in the past months from the discredited regime of Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi.