The United Nations special envoy to the Sahel region said yesterday talks to resolve a crisis in Libya had stalled and warned that several countries in the region are risking being destabilised unless the situation is resolved quickly.
Hiroute Gebre Selassie said instability in the Sahel region south of the Sahara desert has worsened, mainly because of the fragile state of regional governments and the expansion of Islamist militants.
“In Libya, the political process is stagnant and the clashes between the different factions continue,” Selassie said at an African security forum in Dakar.
There are groups that have given allegiance to the Islamic State and the situation on the ground in Libya paves the way for these groups
“If the crisis in Libya is not resolved quickly, then numerous countries in the region will be destabilised.”
Libya has two governments competing for legitimacy, since a group called Libya Dawn seized Tripoli in August, forcing the internationally recognised Prime Minister, Abdullah al-Thinni, to the eastern city of Tobruk, spurring fears of a civil war for control of the country’s vast oil reserves.
A second round of UN-sponsored peace talks was due to open this week. However al-Thinni has vowed to retake Tripoli by force.
“We have to act quickly because if we don’t, we will have broken pots everywhere,” the UN’s Selassie told Reuters.
“I’m not saying that there is no international action, but efforts must be stepped up,” she said. “Libya is already destabilised, but the Sahel risks being set ablaze.”
She said that the different positions of regional players were hindering the efforts of France’s regional counter-insurgency force Barkhane and the United Nations to start the dialogue, which is trying for a peaceful solution.
“What is at stake is huge, and more effort is needed,” Selassi said. Persistent indications of Islamic State training camps being set up in Libya were especially worrying.
“There are groups that have given allegiance to the Islamic State and the situation on the ground in Libya paves the way for these groups,” she said, adding that the spread of dangerous weapons across the Sahel was continuing in spite of any efforts to hamper the international Islamist networks.
French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, whose country has deployed some 3,200 troops in the Sahel to tackle Islamist groups, said that many militants, including jihadists, have managed to regroup in southern Libya and they have equipped themselves with a large amount of weapons.
A French-led operation in January 2013 destroyed an al-Qaeda-linked enclave in northern Mali, but scattered Islamist cells still carry out attacks against Malian troops and UN peacekeepers.
“With these large spaces and porous frontiers, it’s not always possible to stop all these movements,” the UN envoy added.