![]() ![]() The LAAF and affiliated foreign forces used internationally banned cluster munitions and laid landmines and boobytraps in Tripoli’s southern suburbs, which killed and wounded at least 116 civilians between May and September. No entity had been held to account over violations of the Libya arms embargo since 2011.īetween April 2019 and June 2020, the LAAF and its affiliates conducted indiscriminate artillery, air, and drone strikes that killed and wounded hundreds of civilians and destroyed civilian infrastructure. A report by the Security Council’s Libya Panel of Experts that was leaked to the press in September stated that Turkey and the United Arab Emirates “were in repeated non-compliance” with the embargo, and named 11 companies as violating the embargo. ![]() Internal and external conflict parties largely ignored an arms embargo ordered by the UN Security Council in 2011 and renewed multiple times. In August, the GNA, Turkey, and Qatar signed a three-way agreement in which Turkey and Qatar committed to sending military advisers and training Libyan cadets. The GNA had substantial foreign fighter support from Sudan and Syria. Private military companies, including the Kremlin-linked Wagner Group, also provided support. General Hiftar’s main backers-the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Jordan, Egypt, and Russia-provided drones, fighter jets, and foreign fighters from Sudan and Syria. The conflict resulted in at least 1,043 civilian casualties as of July and over 220,000 internally displaced people, according to the UN. The armed conflict in Tripoli and the surrounding area that had started on April 4, 2019, ended on June 4 when GNA-linked armed groups and their foreign backers, mainly Turkey, pushed the LAAF and its affiliates toward the central city of Sirte and to Jufrah in the south. The agreement stipulated the departure of all foreign fighters and trainers from the country for a minimum of three months, the re-opening of land and air routes that had been practically shut for many months, and the exchange of prisoners between the parties. On October 23, representatives of the GNA and LAAF-the two main Libyan conflict parties-signed in Geneva a permanent and country-wide ceasefire brokered by the United Nations. Migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees in Libya-including thousands intercepted at sea while trying to reach Europe and returned by the European Union-supported Libyan Coast Guard-faced arbitrary detention, during which many experienced ill-treatment, sexual assault, forced labor, and extortion by groups under the GNA Interior Ministry, members of armed groups, smugglers, and traffickers. LAAF-affiliated armed groups and forces linked with the Interim Government quelled some of the protests using live fire. In September, people in the eastern cities of Benghazi, Tobruk, and Al-Marj took to the streets to protest deteriorating living conditions. In August, GNA affiliated armed groups in Tripoli used heavy weapons to disperse street protests against corruption and poor living conditions. Armed groups on all sides continued to kill unlawfully and shell indiscriminately, killing civilians and destroying vital infrastructure. The conflict hampered the provision of basic services including health and electricity. On October 23, conflict parties signed a country-wide ceasefire agreement in Geneva. Since April 2019, the United Nations-recognized and Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA), supported by armed groups in western Libya nominally under its control, has been embroiled in an armed conflict with the rival Interim Government based in eastern Libya, which is affiliated with the armed group Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF) under the command of General Khalifa Hiftar.
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