Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlut Cavusoglu during a visit to Libya on Saturday announced an investigation into a shipment of arms smuggled from his country to the conflict-hit North African nation.
Libyan officials on Thursday last week said that two containers of arms and munitions disguised as construction materials had been seized at the western port of Khoms.
Rival administrations in Libya demanded an explanation as the UN mission in the country called the reports of the large shipment “extremely disconcerting” and said that it expected UN experts to investigate.
“We are going to take firm measures on this subject,” Cavusoglu said in translated comments at a news conference with his Libyan counterpart in Tripoli. “We are starting an investigation to determine how the arms were loaded into containers and how they entered Libya.”
EMBARGO
Libya has been subject to a UN arms embargo since it plunged into chaos amid the 2011 uprising that ousted Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi.
The country is divided between an internationally backed government based in Tripoli and a rival authority under Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar in the east.
UN experts have documented deliveries of weapons from destinations including Sudan, Egypt, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, despite the ban on weapons imports.
Tripoli-based Government of National Accord Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj expressed his “profound concern” over the latest shipment in a statement after meeting Cavusoglu.
The statement said that Turkey had denied any official links to delivery and the two sides would probe the matter jointly.
The Haftar camp regularly accuses Turkey and Qatar of militarily and financially backing his rivals, including Muslim militants.
Cavusoglu said that unnamed Western and Arab countries have sent “tanks, missiles and drones” to Libya, in apparent reference to alleged outside support for Haftar.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese