UNSMIL, Germany criticise breaking of UN arms embargo

On 27 January, the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) issued a statement saying it deeply regrets the “continued blatant violations of the arms embargo in Libya,” especially those conducted even after concerned countries made commitments to abide by the arms embargo during the Berlin conference held on 19 January 2020. UNSMIL said the fragile truce between the Government of National Accord (GNA) and the Libyan National Army (LNA) is now threatened by the ongoing further transfer of foreign fighters, weapons, ammunition and advanced systems to the parties by member states, including several who participated in the Berlin Conference. The statement condemned these ongoing violations and called on the countries involved to live up to their commitments to the UN arms embargo. Yet, the statement lacked a mention of concrete penalties or enforcement mechanisms.On 27 January, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas met EU High Representative Josep Borrell in Berlin to discuss the situation in Libya. Maas called for the UN Security Council to enforce sanctions against those who breach the UN arms embargo on Libya, and said he hopes that the 5+5 committee will meet this week to discuss the possibility of a UN-brokered truce. The continuing violations of the UN Arms embargo in the wake of the Berlin Conference should come as no surprise. That conference provided no concrete penalties to those nations caught violating the embargo. As such, UNSMIL’s and the EU’s follow on statements, meetings and conferences about how to finally give the arms embargo ‘teeth’ remain likely to fail unless a major state (like the US or UK) states that they will unilaterally or bilaterally sanction or impose other penalties on states seen to be in violation.