Libya risks a return to wide conflict: UN

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is warning that Libya risks a return to widespread conflict, citing the volatile security situation in Tripoli and fighting in the eastern oil crescent and elsewhere.

The 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 different areas and the international community in the country remains a target.

He said in the report that the potential for an escalating conflict remains due mainly to unaddressed political issues “and the multiplicity of armed actors on the ground with conflicting agendas.”

The overthrow of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011 has spawned chaos in Libya. The power and security vacuum turned the country into a breeding ground for militias and militants, including Islamic State extremists and al-Qaida affiliates. It has also made Libya a gateway for thousands of migrants from Africa and elsewhere seeking to cross the Mediterranean to Italy.

The secretary-general said he remains “deeply alarmed” by human-rights situation in the country.

“Armed groups from all sides continued to abduct, torture and kill civilians,” he said. “In addition, ordinary crime was endemic, mainly owing to the state of general lawlessness and the weakness of judicial institutions.”