MIGRANTS PINNED DOWN IN LIBYA CROSSFIRE
About 8,000 refugees in Tripoli are left without food or water after 39 militia men are killed in clashes
Nearly a week of clashes between militias in the Libyan capital Tripoli have left thousands of detained migrants trapped without food or water and forced the city’s airport to close.
At least 39 people were killed and hundreds injured in the first five days of fighting that broke out in Tripoli’s southern suburbs on Monday, the Health Ministry said.
The clashes between rival militias also “jeopardised the lives of an estimated 8,000 refugees, asylum seekers and migrants who have been trapped and arbitrarily held in closed detention centres throughout the city”, Doctors without Borders said.
The Mitiga airport announced yesterday that flights to the capital were being diverted east to the city of Misurata. A spokesman for state carrier Libyan Airlines said the airport was closed on Friday after rockets were fired towards it.
The fighting pits pro-government militias against a brigade known as the Seventh, or the Kani, and allied forces led by Salah Badi, a militia leader who was blamed for leading the destruction of Tripoli in 2014. He is reported to have returned to the city from his base in Turkey.
The US, France and Britain yesterday called for an end to the fighting and said the militias involved would be held accountable.
“These attempts to weaken the legitimate Libyan authorities and hinder the ongoing political process are not acceptable,” the three countries said in a statement released by the French Foreign Ministry.
The UN-backed unity government based in Tripoli instructed two of its most senior military commanders to mediate between the militias. Ceasefires have been announced but have failed to hold.
“We have called from the outset to spare civilians these armed confrontations, which will only lead to further destruction and innocent casualties,” said Fayez Al Sarraj, Prime Minister of the Government of National Accord.
The Libyan Red Crescent said it had been unable to open safe passages in the south of Tripoli because of the intense fighting.
The UN refugee agency said it had moved about 300 refugees and migrants out of a detention centre in Ain Zara, one of the focal points for conflict.
“The recent fighting demonstrates that Libya is not a safe
We have called from the outset to spare civilians these armed confrontations FAYEZ AL SARRAJ Prime Minister of the Government of National Accord
place for migrants, refugees and asylum seekers,” said Ibrahim Younis, the doctors charity’s head of mission in Libya.
“Many have fled from wartorn countries or have spent months in horrible conditions while being held by human traffickers before they were put in these closed detention centres.”
The medical charity accused the Libyan government, the UN and governments of failing to establish an effective way to process asylum claims. It said some European countries had created policies that stopped asylum seekers from leaving Libya.
It called on these countries “to acknowledge Libya is not a place of safety” and to help those trapped in the conflict-torn nation.
Libya has been in turmoil since dictator Muammar Qaddafi was overthrown in a popular uprising in 2011.
Control of the country is nominally divided between rival administrations based in Tripoli and in eastern Libya, but the real power lies with competing militias.
The turmoil has created a lawless state in which extremists groups have taken root and human trafficking gangs have thrived, bringing tens of thousands of African migrants into country before sending them across the Mediterranean to Europe.