More than two million people, including 600,000 children, who live in Tripoli and surrounding areas have been suffering from water shortages for almost a week now, the United Nations Special Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) said in a report published on Friday.
According to the report, part of the water supply from the Great Man-Made River was disrupted by an independent group in the Shwerif area. The move was a pressure tactic to secure the release of family members. All mediation efforts until now have not produced a resolution to the dispute, and millions of Libyans are still deprived of water.
Water should never be used as a pressure card nor as a weapon of war, the report said, adding that it is particularly reprehensible to deliberately cut off water supplies for people anywhere in Libya.
In addition, the report noted that this deplorable water cut is coinciding with a serious power outage in the western region — which was also a result of another individual dispute.
The report stated that, in a moment when Libya is combating the spread of COVID-19, access to water and electricity is more than ever lifesaving. Individual acts to collectively punish millions of innocent people are abhorrent and must stop immediately.