The arms embargo decreed in 2011 for Libya by the UN, “is still ineffective”, affirms an annual report of the UN experts in charge of its control and recently submitted to the Security Council. Member States continue to “rape with impunity” by transporting weapons to Libya, says a summary of this document obtained Friday by AFP, which also confirms that “Most of the Libyan territory is still controlled by armed groups”.
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“The continued presence of Chadian, Sudanese and Syrian fighters and private military companies in the country continues to pose a serious threat to the security of Libya and the region”, experts say. According to the British daily The Guardian who had access to the entire report, the experts again target in their document the mercenaries of the private Russian group Wagner, reputed to be close to the Russian authorities, accusing them of having laid mines in civilian areas in Libya without having listed their locations.
In their summary of the report, the experts also denounce serious violations of international humanitarian law. “on a large scale and with complete impunity”. “In particular, seven Libyan armed groups have systematically resorted to arbitrary and illegal detentions against suspected opponents”, they point out. UN specialists also say they have identified cases of maritime piracy against merchant ships.
After more than a decade of chaos following the 2011 fall of Muammar Gaddafi, Libya, plagued by divisions between competing institutions in East and West, has had two rival governments since early March, as between 2014 and 2021 , then in the midst of a civil war. No solution to this political crisis is in sight so far.