Cairo: The UN human rights chief warned on Tuesday that civil society, bloggers and professionals in Libya face a “climate of fear” created by warring militias whose clashes left 17 dead in the western region.
Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussain says his agency has received numerous reports of assaults targeting rights advocates in Libya including murder, abduction and death threats. Many have fled or suspended their work.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a statement that the attacks amount to “war crimes.” He said perpetrators benefit from “total impunity” for such attacks and threaten Libya’s few independent voices.
In one incident last month, two well-known activists were among ten people killed in eastern Benghazi.
Violence and rivalries have deeply split Libya, which has fallen into chaos since the 2011 Nato-backed uprising that toppled dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
Militias mostly from the coastal city of Misrata and allied to Islamist political factions took control of the capital after fierce battles with rival anti-Islamist militias mostly from the mountain town of Zintan. The battles left hundreds dead, displaced thousands and forced diplomats and foreigners to flee.
On Tuesday, fighting continued in the vicinity of the small western town of Kikla, nearly 150km west of Tripoli, leaving 17 dead, according to a hospital official. The deaths bring the total number of people killed over the past four days to over 60 and 170 injured.
In eastern Libya, a new round of battles appeared imminent after renegade General Khalifa Hifter announced in a late televised statement a new offensive to “liberate” Benghazi, the second largest city, “from terrorists.”
Benghazi has fallen into the hands of Islamist militants in the past few months. The militias overran army barracks and seized large amounts of weapons.
Hifter’s forces called for an “armed uprising” on Wednesday in Benghazi, urging youths to carry weapons and fight for their own neighbourhoods.