© Mahmud Turkia / AFPMembers of a brigade loyal to the Fajr Libya (Libya Dawn), an alliance of Islamist-backed fighters.
The "uncertain" political situation as well as a dire security situation in Libya make any proposals concerning the full or even partial lifting of the arms embargo imposed against the nation "premature," Russia's incumbent UN envoy, Pyotr Ilyichev, said.
"Given the uncertainty of the situation in Libya, it would be premature to talk about a full or partial lifting of the weapons embargo [imposed] against Libya," Ilyichev said at the UN Security Council meeting dedicated to the country's crisis.
He went on to say that any proposals should be "strictly linked" to the security situation in the North African country.
More than six years after the start of the Arab Spring, Libya "is still going through a painful recovery" from a heavy blow dealt to it by international intervention and the toppling of its former leader, Muammar Gaddafi, the Russian envoy said.Last year, western powers, including the US, considered partially lifting the embargo to help the UN-backed government in Tripoli tackle security challenges in the war-torn state.
Ilyichev expressed his regret over the fact that, "despite the efforts undertaken by the international community to settle the Libyan crisis, the situation [there] is not changing for the better" and expressed Moscow's concern over the fact that "the fragmentation of government" still "impedes the resolution of numerous issues in the area of security and the social economic area."
He particularly drew attention to the fact that Libya is still divided between a Tobruk-based parliament and the UN-backed unity government in Tripoli, which are still engaged in a bitter confrontation that had led to a "paralysis of the government system."
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