UN, US condemn bombardment at Tripoli airport and several districts
Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - The UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) Friday denounced the random bombardments which targeted the Maitigua airport, east of Tripoli, and several districts of the city in violation of the truce, an official source said here.
The US embassy shared similar sentiments, underlining the consequences of such actions on efforts to resolve the Libyan crisis.
Several Grad missiles fell at different locations of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, wounding a woman, damaging several buildings, as well as the airport, and causing the suspension of air traffic for hours.
In a statement, UNSMIL announced “its deep consternation and condemnation of the intensive and random bombardments against several Tripoli zones on Friday morning, including the bombardment of Maitigua airport for the third consecutive day".
The UN mission also denounced "the flagrant attack that killed five members of the same family on Thursday in the region of Al-Rawajeh, south of Tripoli which is a flagrant violation of the international humanitarian law.
"The bombardment of civilian districts in Tripoli, which can be considered as war crimes, aims not only to intimidate populations, but also aims to breach the idea of a meeting between Libyans," said the UNSMIL communiqué.
It added that "the three paths that emerged from the 2510 Resolution of the UN Security Council were launched and will be affected neither by the Grad missile bombardments nor the deceitful and fiery declarations”.
The will of life is stronger than the distribution of death, and hanging on the country’s unity is stronger than the polarization of the canon, the statement said.
In this context, the UN Mission called on all countries who took part in the international Berlin conference on Libya to honour their commitments, particularly by holding responsible those compromising efforts to end the fighting in Libya.
The mission also reminded all parties of their obligations by virtue of the international humanitarian law and the law related to human rights to abstain from targeting civilians and the vital installations and to respect the armistice.
A truce was proclaimed on 12 January on the appeal of Russian and Turkish presidents, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan respectively, but this is regularly violated.
The US embassy said it “joined itself with the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) to condemn the recent attacks of the forces affiliated to the Libyan National Army (LNA) against Maitigua airport and the Tripoli populated districts".
"These attacks are particularly reprehensible in the sense that they are perpetrated while responsible Libyans all over the country are meeting in Geneva under the aegis of the United Nations and in accordance with the 2510 Resolution of the UN Security Council within the framework of peaceful dialogue on Libya’s political future".
The first round of the political dialogue ended on Friday in Geneva where it was boycotted by the two Libyan Assemblies.
At a news conference on Friday in Geneva, the UN envoy in Libya, Ghassan Salamé, underlined his will to carry on, despite difficulties, the economic, military and political paths in March with a view to finding solutions to the crisis in Libya.
-0- PANA BY/IS/MSA/RA 28Feb2020
