The United Kingdom’s (UK) Embassy in Libya condemned the clashes that took place on Friday night in several districts in the Libyan capital. It stressed that the responsibility to maintain stability rests with all parties.
The Embassy tweeted, “the UK fully supports this important statement from the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) and condemns the violence in Tripoli last night. It is the responsibility of all sides to maintain stability, for the good of the Libyan people.”
On Saturday, UNSMIL said it received reports of clashes in Tripoli Friday night between armed groups, “which endangered the lives of civilians, and separately of mobilization of armed groups, along with heavy weapons, from areas surrounding Tripoli.”
UNSMIL stated it was “deeply concerned” about these developments, “during an extremely sensitive period of political polarisation which the United Nations (UN), international partners, and concerned Libyans are making efforts to resolve. This includes the talks aimed at establishing a constitutional framework to enable the holding of national elections at the soonest possible time, whose third and final round is scheduled to resume tomorrow, Sunday the 12th of June, in Cairo, Egypt.”
UNSMIL called on “Libya’s political and security actors to exercise maximum restraint demonstrate responsible leadership and address all disputes, both at the local and national levels, through dialogue.”
UNSMIL also called on “all Libyans to do everything possible to preserve the country’s fragile stability at this sensitive time.”
The UN mission commended “the efforts of all Libyan notables and stakeholders who are working to defuse current tensions and resolve the ongoing political impasse.”