The UN mission in Libya has urged all parties to the conflict in the North African country to avoid actions or political rhetoric that could escalate or renew clashes in Tripoli, following reports of an ongoing military buildup in and around the city, Reuters reported, BTA reported.
Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeiba ordered the disbandment of irregular armed militias in May, following the fiercest clashes in Tripoli in years between two armed groups that killed at least eight civilians.
„The mission continues its efforts to help de-escalate the situation and calls on all parties to engage in good faith to that end. "The forces recently deployed to Tripoli must withdraw immediately," the UN mission said on social media.
A Tripoli-based government of national unity, led by Dbeiba, was established through a UN-backed process in 2021, but the Benghazi-based parliament no longer recognizes its legitimacy.
Libya has been unstable since a NATO-backed uprising in 2011 toppled its longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi.
While eastern Libya has been dominated for a decade by commander Khalifa Haftar and his Libyan National Army, control in Tripoli and western Libya is fragmented among multiple armed factions.