TRIPOLI: The UN has called for an immediate stop to hostilities in Libya following a day of deadly clashes between political factions in the capital, Tripoli.
The UN’s Libya mission said the fighting had included “indiscriminate medium and heavy shelling in civilian-populated neighbourhoods” and called for an immediate ceasefire – which was backed by the US ambassador to Libya, Richard Norland on Saturday.
The oil-rich country once had one of the highest standards of living in Africa, with free healthcare and free education. But the stability that led to its prosperity has been shattered and Tripoli has seen frequent fighting between rival forces since 2011.
Rival factions battled across Libya’s Capital in the worst fighting there in two years as a months-long political standoff burst into urban warfare that threatens to escalate into a wider conflict.
At least 32 people have been killed and 159 wounded in the deadly clashes, the Libyan Ministry of Health said on Sunday. A total of 64 families were evacuated from the affected areas, the ministry earlier said.
Sustained fighting in the city over the control of government would likely plunge Libya back into full-blown war after two years of comparative peace that brought an abortive political process aimed at holding national elections. The standoff for power in Libya has pitted the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity (GNU) under Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah against a rival administration under Fathi Bashagha that is backed by the eastern-based parliament. Forces aligned with Bashagha tried to take territory in Tripoli from several directions on Saturday, but his main military convoy turned back towards Misrata before reaching the capital, eyewitnesses told media.
Dbeibah later posted a video online showing him visiting fighters in the city after clashes stopped.
Fighting had erupted overnight and intensified through the morning, with small-arms fire, heavy machine guns and mortars deployed in central areas. Columns of black smoke rose across the Tripoli skyline and shooting and blasts echoed in the air. By the afternoon, forces aligned with Bashagha appeared to be converging on Tripoli from three directions. In Janzour in northwest Tripoli, a main access point for some pro-Bashagha forces, local people reported intense clashes.
Large armed factions backing each side in Libya’s political dispute have repeatedly mobilized around Tripoli in recent weeks, with convoys of military vehicles moving around the city and threatening force to obtain their goals. –Agencies
