Libya.- The UN mission in Libya reports the discovery of new mass graves in the city of Tarhuna

July 5. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The UN Independent Investigation Mission on Libya has reported this Monday on the discovery of new mass graves in Tarhuna, Libya, and has advanced some of the points of the report that it will present to the UN Human Rights Council in the coming days, to account for the continuing abuses committed in that country.

The president of the mission in Libya, Mohamed Auajar, has indicated in a statement that the investigations have made it possible to identify “previously undiscovered mass graves in that city”, located about 65 kilometers southeast of the capital, Tripoli, through the use of technology. advanced.

“We don’t know how many bodies there may be, now we have to dig. But there are hundreds of people whose whereabouts are unknown,” Auajar stressed.

In this sense, he specified that more than 200 people are still missing in Tarhuna and its surroundings, causing “incalculable anguish to their families, who have the right to know the truth about the fate of their loved ones.”

Auajar has denounced in a press conference the persistence of a culture of impunity in the North African country, stating that this lack of accountability is “a huge obstacle” for national reconciliation, truth and justice for the victims and their families .

In the section referring to Tarhuna, the UN report collects testimonies and finds evidence of “the widespread and systematic perpetration of forced disappearances, extermination, murder, torture and imprisonment” and underlines that all these actions constitute crimes against humanity committed by the Al-Kani militia.

The report to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council this week details how Al Kani militia fighters executed and jailed hundreds of people between 2016 and 2020.

Regarding the disappearance of women, Aujjar has stated that “discrimination and violence are a feature of daily life for most women and girls in Libya.”

“The mission is particularly concerned that domestic law does not provide protection against sexual and gender-based violence, as this lack contributes to impunity for such crimes,” Aujar lamented.

The country is divided again after the Tobruk House of Representatives terminated the mandate of the prime minister of unity, Abdul Hamid Dbeibé, due to the postponement of the presidential elections in December and appointed Fazi Bashaga to the position.

The unity government has rejected the decision of the House of Representatives, which is a blow to efforts to end the conflict, and has maintained that Dbeibé will remain in office, a position supported by the international community.

Dbeibé was elected as prime minister by the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) in February 2021, thereby replacing the then unity prime minister, Fayez Serraj, who agreed to cede his powers after the consultation process, initiated after a ceasefire agreement after the Tripoli authorities rejected the military offensive launched in April 2019 by General Khalifa Haftar, aligned with the authorities based in the east.