A/HRC/17/44 on attacks on mosques, stated that the rebels had never used nor been present in the mosques or the surrounding neighbourhoods.124 158. The Commission also received specific information about a site considered of cultural importance by the Amazigh community of the Nafusa Mountain area, The Ben Niran Palace (Ghasrow Majar in Tamazight language). The Palace was destroyed by Government forces, with one witness putting the date as 2 or 3 April 2011. (c) Destruction of objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population 159. The Commission received numerous accounts, particularly in the Nafusa Mountain area, of the destruction of objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population. In some cases, the allegation was of deliberate destruction. In others, it would appear that the damage may have been collateral. One witness spoke of livestock being deliberately killed with small firearms and agricultural land being burnt down. Another witness in the same area noted that “shelling has spared neither livestock nor agriculture lands, with reports of burning fields, and killing of livestock”.125 A witness from Yafran also spoke of “livestock, farms, and crop growing have been hit intentionally in Zintan in particular to ensure that people under the siege would be deprived of food leading to malnutrition and ultimately to starvation”. 160. Another testimony referred to “Qadhafi forces entering villages, robbing belongings of residents, and burning down houses after killing what remains of the livestock”. Two witnesses mentioned the contamination of wells by Government forces. (d) Impeding access to humanitarian relief and attacks on humanitarian personnel 161. There has been a long-term siege of cities or entire areas by the Government forces in the Nafusa Mountain area and Misrata and more briefly in Ajdabiya, Az-Zawiyah and Zuwarah. The Commission heard from witnesses particularly from the Nafusa Mountain area and Misrata that the effect of such sieges has been to prevent food and other vital supplies being received. The blockading of cities, in particular the cutting of power and water supplies, and the limiting of food supplies has particular implications for the population‟s human rights, including their right to an adequate standard of living (art. 11 of the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights). The Secretary-General of the United Nations and the Executive Director of the World Food Programme called on 11 and 12 May respectively for a ceasefire to allow humanitarian access to Misrata and the western area but these calls have not been heeded by the Government.126 On 27 May, the medical NGO Medecins Sans Frontieres announced it was withdrawing from Zintan, where it had been working for four weeks, due to the intensity of the fighting and the fact that “several rockets [had been] landing just 100 to 200 metres from the hospital”.127 124 125 126 127 Human Rights Watch, “Libya: End Indiscriminate Attacks in Western Town”, 9 May 2011, available from: http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2011/05/09/libya-end-indiscriminate-attacks-western-mountaintowns. Article 14 AP II. UN News Centre, “Libya: UN Secretary-General urges immediate end to attacks against civilians”, 11 May 2011. Available from www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=38348&Cr=libya&Cr1=. Also, “Libya: UN official voices concern as fighting blocks aid delivery in west”. Available from http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=38352&Cr=Libya&Cr1=. Medecins sans frontieres, “MSF evacuates team from Zintan, Libya”. Available from www.msf.org/msf/articles/2011/05/msf-evacuates-from-zintan-libya.cfm. 45