MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th April, 2020) The continued fighting in Libya should serve as a wake-up call for the international community to step in, enforce the arms embargo and end hostilities, the African Union's commissioner on peace and security has told Sputnik.
"I think the Libyan situation is really a wake-up call for the international community to act quickly and act conveniently, decisively to stop these things and all those who are violating the embargo or continuing to interfere in internal affairs of Libya," Smail Chergui said.
He said the warring parties had unfortunately ignored the calls to cease fire and the recent development on the ground have been "very difficult and dangerous."
It is up to the United Nations and stakeholders who took part in the Berlin conference on Libyan peace to force the warring parties to end hostilities in order to tackle the health crisis that the coronavirus pandemic may lead to in Libya, the commissioner said.
"First we have to have the ceasefire. And I think it's the responsibility of the UN and all those who participated in the Berlin conference. So we must make another call all together to these warring parties to stop and have in mind first the interest of their own people facing this COVID-19," he said.
"They should understand that time has come to have in mind first the Libyan people who became IDPs [internally displaced], refugees - and you can imagine in such situation you can't even think about social distancing," Chergui said.
Turning to the European Union's new naval operation to stop weapons smuggling to Libya, the commissioner said that any monitoring should be comprehensive and transparent. He added that the arms embargo has been violated openly.
"If there is any monitoring, or any contribution to allow the UN to monitor the cease-fire and to respect the embargo, it should be comprehensive, it should incorporate all the borders of Libya and it should be done in transparent way," Chergui said.
