UN Arms Embargo in Libya Remains Ineffective
A new violation of United Nations embargo in Libya happened last Tuesday with the delivery of 2 000 Turkish-made weapons.
The 26th of February 2011, the Security Council of the United Nations voted the resolution 1973 which imposed an arms embargo on Libya because of the civil war. The aim of this resolution was to avoid the increase of civilian casualties with the obligation for the UN States Members to prevent the direct or indirect supply of all weaponry to Libya.
Nevertheless, several countries continued to deliver military material, mostly motivated by personal interest in the region. The UN experts in Libya stated in their final report (8 March 2021) that the embargo still remains “totally ineffective”.
The last violation was revealed by the tweeter account @Libya_OSINT which posted a seizure by Misrata Port Customs of 2 000 Turkish-made 9mm pistols hidden in a containerized shipment of clothes.
Cargo ships are the main transport used to bring weapons in Libya. The European Union, which is directly concerned by Libyan issues, had already imposed in 2020 sanctions on a Turkish shipping company accused of breaking the UN arms embargo.
