Bloomberg
A senior United Nations official called the arms embargo on Libya a “joke†as governments struggled to hold together efforts to end a civil war in the North African country.
Germany hosted a meeting of top officials in Munich, who expressed concern about “the deplorable recent violations†of the Libyan weapons embargo, while reaffirming the conclusions of a summit in Berlin last month. The goal is to end a conflict between Fayez al-Sarraj, Libya’s UN-backed prime minister, and his rival General Khalifa Haftar.
But prospects for progress are bleak, a circumstance illustrated by those who didn’t attend. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov sent a more junior official.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas acknowledged that the Berlin summit had failed to achieve much progress and success won’t be a “simple task.â€
Stephanie Williams, a UN deputy special envoy who attended the meeting, was more blunt. “The arms embargo has become a joke,†Williams said. “We all really need to step up here,†she said.
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