UN: 100 aircraft, 12 ships of military supplies reached Libyan parties to conflict since July
SANAA, Sept. 3 (YPA) – The Acting Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations in Libya, Stephanie Williams, confirmed that external parties continue to supply the conflicting Libyan parties with weapons.
Speaking during a session of the UN Security Council on Wednesday, Williams said: “Since the Secretary-General’s last briefing on you on July 8, about 70 supply flights have landed at eastern airports in support of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar’s forces, while 30 supply flights have been sent to airports in western Libya in support to the government of national accord. ”
“Similarly, about nine cargo ships docked in western ports in support of the Government of National Accord, while it was reported that three cargo ships arrived in support of the forces” led by Haftar, Williams added during a session devoted to the Security Council to discuss the situation in Libya.
Williams emphasized that “the foreign sponsors are fortifying their assets in the main Libyan air bases in the east and west,” expressing regret that all these activities “constitute a serious violation of Libya’s sovereignty, and a flagrant violation of the arms embargo imposed by the United Nations” on this country in 2011. Since the fall of The regime of Muammar Gaddafi In 2011, Libya is witnessing successive conflicts that have exhausted the people of the country that has the largest oil reserves in Africa.
Williams explained that the United Nations Support Mission in Libya, whose mandate is supposed to be renewed in mid-September, “is still receiving reports of the presence of mercenaries and foreign agents on a large scale, which increases the complexity of local dynamics and the chances of reaching a settlement in the future.”
During the session, the Russian ambassador to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzia, rejected his country’s repeated accusations of interfering militarily in Libya, stressing that “there is not even one Russian military in Libya.”
Since 2015, the conflict has erupted between the Government of National Accord headed by Fayez al-Sarraj, based in Tripoli (west), and a parallel government supported by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar in the east of the country, and Turkey and Qatar support the Government of National Accord, the UAE, Egypt and Russia support Haftar’s forces.
During the session, several members of the Council called for the appointment of a genuine UN envoy to Libya as soon as possible.
Due to the current differences between the United States and its partners over the specific tasks of the UN envoy to Libya, the successor to Ghassan Salameh, who resigned in March for health reasons, has yet to be appointed.