Saturday 5 March 2016

UN chief: IS a great threat for Libya’s future

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has warned that the future of Libya, and the stability of the whole Sahel region, is at stake as it faces the “terrifying threat” of the self-proclaimed Islamic State.



UN secretary General Ban ki-moon

But he warned international powers not to “stoke the fires of conflict” in the country.

Ban left Mauritania on Saturday and headed to Algeria as part of a tour of West and North Africa.

While meeting Mauritanian leaders, including President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz and Prime Minister Yahya Ould Hademine, in the capital Nouakchott on Friday he said he was “deeply concerned about the situation in Libya”.

Chaos has engulfed Libya since the 2011 NATO-backed ouster of dictator Moamer Kadhafi and rival administrations are being urged to sign up to a UN-brokered national unity government to help restore stability. 

“There are alarming reports of widespread human rights violations, including serious abuses that may amount to war crimes,” Ban said in his comments Friday. “All those with influence must use it to calm the situation and stop the fighting. 

It is utterly irresponsible for any outside player to stoke the fires,” he added. Ban said that his special representative Martin Kobler “is facilitating talks on a national unity government” as “we face the terrifying scourge of Daesh (IS) expanding in Libya and beyond its borders.” 

Delays would only worsen the dire humanitarian needs, he warned, adding that “Libya’s future is at stake” and “the reverberations echo far”.Success in stabilising Libya would also benefit the whole Sahel region and “our world” in general, he added .

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