Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is warning that Libya risks a return to widespread confl ict, citing the volatile security situation in Tripoli and fi ghting in the eastern oil crescent and elsewhere.
Th e UN chief expressed alarm in a report to the UN Security Council at the renewed military escalation and ongoing political stalemate in the country. Guterres said the Islamic State extremist group no longer controls territory in Libya, but its operatives have been sighted…it has been blamed for a number of attacks in diff erent areas…and the international community in the country remains a target.
He said that the potential for an escalating confl ict remained due mainly to unaddressed political issues “and the multiplicity of armed actors on the ground with confl icting agendas.” Th e overthrow of longtime dictator Muammar Gaddhafi in 2011 has spawned chaos in Libya.
Th e power and security vacuum turned the country into a breeding ground for militias and militants, including Islamic State extremists and al-Qaeda affi liates. It has also made Libya a gateway for thousands of migrants from Africa and elsewhere seeking to cross the Mediterranean to Italy.
Since 2014, Libya has been split between rival governments and parliaments based in the western and eastern regions, each backed by diff erent militias, tribes and political factions.
A UN-brokered deal in December 2015 to create a unity government has failed because the UN-backed government now in Tripoli has been unable to win the endorsement of Libya’s internationally recognised Parliament in eastern Tobruk, which is a prerequisite to assume power. Guterres said the UNbacked Presidency Council and government remained “constrained in their ability to govern eff ectively and to provide much needed basic services and security to the population”.
He said the 2015 political agreement continued to be supported by the majority of Libyans and interested countries “as the only political framework to lead the country forward”.
