UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has warned that the future of libya, and the stability of the whole Sahel region, is at stake as it faces the “terrifying threat” of the Islamic State group.
But he warned international powers not to “stoke the fires of conflict” in the country.
Ban was speaking in Mauritania before heading to Algeria today as part of a tour of West and North Africa.
While meeting Mauritanian leaders, including President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz and Prime Minister Yahya Ould Hademine, in the capital Nouakchott yesterday he said he was “deeply concerned about the situation in libya”.
Chaos has engulfed libya since the 2011 NATO-backed ouster of dictator Moamer Kadhafi and rival administrations are being urged to sign up to a UN-brokered national unity government to help restore stability.
The internationally recognised Government is based in the far east of the North African country.
The Islamic State group and other extremist organisations have exploited the power vacuum, making gains along the oil- rich coastal regions and triggering concern among Western nations over jihadists controlling territory just 300 kilometres from Europe.