Libya's warring sides must agree to a ceasefire and return to political talks, the UN Security Council said on Friday in a unanimous statement that condemned a military attack that killed 53 migrants held in government custody.
A further 130 people were wounded when the Tajoura Detention Centre east of Tripoli was hit late on Tuesday, in what UN officials said was an air strike. The centre is close to a camp where government-allied militias have repeatedly come under attack from air strikes conducted by the rival Libyan National Army controlled by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar.
The council issued a statement on Friday, giving the updated death toll for the Tajoura attack. It urged all sides fighting to “urgently de-escalate the situation and commit to a ceasefire”.
“The members of the council further called on all parties rapidly to return to UN political mediation and reaffirmed their full support for the leadership of Ghassan Salame, the UN special representative of the secretary general,” it said.
The statement was agreed after two days of negotiations, diplomats told The National, stressing that any new council resolution would require further talks next week. An emergency closed-doors meeting had taken place on Wednesday. Britain, Germany and France have been pushing for a resolution that would incorporate demands for a ceasefire as well as seek to stem the flow of weaponry that is fuelling the conflict.
Field Marshal Haftar, who controls much of the east and south of the country, launched an offensive on the capital more than three months ago but his forces have failed to break through against militias loyal to the UN-backed Government of National Accord. The humanitarian situation on the ground is worsening and weapons are flooding into the country in numerous breaches of a UN arms embargo. The GNA accused LNA of carrying out the Tajoura air strike. UN secretary general Antonio Guterres called for an independent investigation.
Air attacks and ground fighting since the April offensive began has killed almost 1,000 and left 5,000 wounded, the UN's World Health Organization said on Friday. A further 100,000 people have been forced to to flee their homes.
World powers have been divided over how to respond to the LNA offensive, with the United States refusing to condemn Field Marshal Haftar whom President Donald Trump spoke with on the telephone soon after the April offensive on Tripoli began. The call - which praised the LNA's actions against terrorism - was initially viewed as a broader tacit endorsement of the Libyan commander, but US officials later denied that was the case.
“It depends on how willing the Americans are to contemplate a resolution,” a council diplomat told The National of the chances of a new resolution being agreed, and not subject to a US veto, next week. “The problem on Libya has always been the Americans, it has not been other members. So in light of these new attacks we will have to see if we can shift the US view.”
Following the Tajoura attack the US State Department condemned the incident and in a statement on Wednesday urged all sides in Libya to de-escalate the fighting, but it avoided any mention of a ceasefire.
Libya has become a major conduit for migrants seeking to reach Europe and remains prey to numerous militias vying for control of the country's oil wealth. Rights groups say those fleeing their home countries in Africa face horrifying abuses in Libya, and their plight has worsened since fighting broke out again in April.
According to the UN, 5,700 refugees and migrants are being held in detention centres in Libya, 3,300 of which are vulnerable to fighting in and around Tripoli.
