The humanitarian crisis in Libya

The United Nations Migration Agency has expressed deep concern over the mistreatment of the Somali and Ethiopian refugees in Libya. The agency has confirmed the authenticity of a video that was posted on June 9 on Facebook which depicts the refugees subjected to extreme brutality.  

The present situation

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) noted that a Somali journalist based in Turkey recorded a video call from a criminal gang in which Somali and Ethiopian refugees claimed to have been beaten.

The agency said the relatives of the captives had received video calls from the criminal groups, demanding ransom, denial of which would lead to the death of the captives.

Instability in Libya

Libya has been in a state of political unrest since the former President of Libya, Muammar Gaddafi was killed in 2011. The two rival factions in Libya, General National Congress (GNC) under Nouri Abusahmain in Tripoli and the 2014 democratically elected House of Representative (HOR) in Tobruk under Aguila Saleh Issa, are currently in a tussle to assume total power over the state. Internationally, it is the Tobruk government that has been recognized as the official government in Libya.

The HOR, strongest in eastern Libya, enjoys the support of the Libyan National Army and has received support from Egypt and UAE. While the GNC is backed by Sudan, Turkey and Qatar. Tobruk is being backed by a military group called Operation Dignity, which is a coalition of eastern tribes and Tripoli has the support of Operation Dawn, an alliance of Islamic forces.

Neither of the rival groups has been able to gain full territorial control or gather popular support. The real power lies with the armed groups that have taken over political order and essentially also the law. Islamic extremism has been present in the eastern province of Cyrenaica for long and the Libyan Islamic fighting group has been trying to gain political power. Additionally, the emergence of the Islamic state militant group has further increased the criminal activities in the region. In February this year, Libya was attacked twice by the ISIS.

Given the lawlessness that informs the region, criminal activities such as cross border smuggling and human trafficking have become widespread. Women from sub-Saharan Africa have been trafficked to Libya for forced prostitution. According to IOM, around 350,000 have been internally displaced in Libya.

In 2014, the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSML) launched an initiative to bring together the rival groups and establish a National Unity Government. However, peace talks have ultimately been unsuccessful.

Assessment

Lack of political consensus and inability to resolve regional differences have only made the matters worse. The violent struggle for power and resources seems far from over. Given the widespread suffering of civilians in the country, foreign powers should refrain from funding and equipping armed groups. The International community ought to focus on demobilization and disarmament in the region and towards the development of a new security structure.