Leon Condemns Tripoli Fighting Endangering Civilian Lives, Calls for Immediate End to Hostilities

18 Apr 2015

Leon Condemns Tripoli Fighting Endangering Civilian Lives, Calls for Immediate End to Hostilities

Skhirat, Morocco - 18 April 2015 - Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya and head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) Bernardino Leon has strongly condemned the renewed outbreak of violence in different neighbourhoods of the Libyan capital that caused many casualties and endangered the lives of civilians.

Initial reports indicate that three civilians were killed, including a young girl, since the outbreak of the fighting in Fashloum. There have also been reports of abductions of civilians and burning of houses in the context of the fighting.

Leon stressed that at a time when all relevant Libyan political stakeholders were gathered in Morocco as part of on-going efforts to find a mediated settlement to the political and military conflict in Libya, there could be no justification whatsoever for the clashes taking place in Tripoli, nor for the continuing armed hostilities taking place in different parts of the country.

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General renewed his call on all parties in Libya to exert all possible efforts to bring an immediate end to the fighting in Tripoli and elsewhere, and to undertake all necessary measures to create a more conducive environment for the on-going dialogue talks.

Leon urged the parties to ensure that civilians and civilian objects are not targeted in the fighting and that international human rights and humanitarian law are respected. All civilians abducted should be released immediately, and the wounded given access to medical treatment.