UN: Libyan turmoil a serious threat to Sahel’s stability

World Today

The U.N. has warned the world that the instability in Libya threatened to destabilize the entire Sahel region. The U.N. Secretary General’s Special Envoy for the Sahel, Ethiopian Hiroute Guebre Sellassie, told the security council that what was happening in Libya was influencing insurgency in Mali and North Nigera. CCTV America’s Adel EL Mahrouky reported from Cairo about Libya’s threat to the region.

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Graphic Courtesy: caritas.org

Ethiopian diplomat Hiroute Guebre Sellassie told the Security Council that the humanitarian and security crises in the band of semi-arid land south of the Sahara desert were worsening, pointing to turmoil in Libya as a key factor.

“If the situation in Libya is not quickly brought under control, many states in the region could be destabilized in the near future,” said the UN envoy for the Sahel.

Libya has been sliding deeper into crisis, torn by rival governments and parliaments battling powerful militias, despite UN efforts to broker talks on ending the violence.

Last month, the Security Council added the Libyan group Ansar al-Sharia to its terror list over its links to Al-Qaida and for running training camps for Islamic State fighters sent to Syria and Iraq.

Guebre Sellassie said terrorist and criminal networks in Libya were developing closer ties to Mali and northern Nigeria, dealing in arms sales and drug trafficking among other illegal trade.

Close to 20,000 arms have poured into the Sahel from Libya and most of the 18 tonnes of cocaine, worth $1.25 billion, sent to West Africa transits through the region, she said.

Story compiled with the information from AFP.