The UN Security Council yesterday blacklisted two branches of the Islamist extremist group Ansar al-Sharia in Libya, which Washington says was behind the 2012 Benghazi attack that killed the US ambassador and three other Americans.
Ansar Al Sharia Benghazi and Ansar Al Sharia Derna, both associated with al-Qaeda, were added to the al-Qaeda sanctions list and will face an arms embargo and a global travel ban and asset freeze, UN diplomats said.
“Both groups are responsible for acts of terror in Libya, including bomb attacks, kidnappings, and murder,” British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said in a statement. Britain, France and the United States initiated the action.
Ansar Al-Sharia is one of a slew of violent political factions and tribal groups fighting for power since the government lost control of the capital, Tripoli.
The UN Security Council has had an arms embargo and other sanctions on Libya since 2011, when former leader Muammar Gaddafi cracked down on pro-democracy activists.
Both groups associated with al-Qaeda are responsible for acts of terror, kidnappings and murder in Libya
Gaddafi himself was ousted from power and killed later that year.
Separate from the UN sanctions, the US is also considering imposing sanctions on Libya’s militants to try to force their leaders to negotiate and prevent the North African country from descending further into chaos.
Meanwhile, also yesterday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi urged the United States and Europe to help the Libyan army in its fight against Islamist militants now to save the country from requiring intervention on the scale of Iraq and Syria, which have descended into civil war clashes.
Sisi said there was a danger to the region from conflict in Libya, where two governments vie for legitimacy, one in Tripoli linked to Islamist militias and an internationally-recognised government in the eastern city of Tobruk.
Egypt says militants cross the border to help Egyptian jihadist group Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis attack Egypt’s security forces in the Sinai Peninsula.
Ansar swore allegiance earlier this month to Islamic State, which is now facing US-led air strikes in Iraq and Syria.
“When we deal with terrorism only in Iraq and Syria, Libya will begin to be an attractive region affecting the stability of... Libya and its neighbours. We will need the same measures happening in Iraq and Syria to be taken in Libya,” Sisi said in an interview with France 24.
“The international community – Europe and the Americans – must help the Libyan national army regain its position and combat terrorism in Libya to restore security and stability.” The internal conflict between rival governments is being exacerbated by tensions between vying tribal groups, many of whom had helped oust dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
Sisi reaffirmed yesterday that Egypt was supporting the Libyan army but he insisted that his country had refrained from direct intervention in Libya.
“If we intervened directly, I would not hesitate to announce that. But all we have done so far is to help the Libyan national army, the Libyan Parliament, and the Libyan government.”
At present Egypt is training anti-Islamist Libyan forces on its soil and sharing intelligence in a bid to stamp out Islamist extremists and militant groups next door.
Security officials have said that Libyan pilots in Egyptian warplanes bombed militant targets in Libya earlier this year, but officials in Cairo also insist that non-intervention is the present government’s guiding policy as things stand.
“There are no Egyptian armed forces in Libya,” Sisi said.
“We protect our borders from inside our borders.”