UN convenes urgent meeting on security in Tripoli

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Tripoli, Sep 3 (IANS/AKI) The UN mission in Libya will invite Tripoli's warring militias to attend urgent talks on Tuesday "at a venue to be announced" to discuss the deadly violence that has killed dozens here including children in the past week, UNSMIL said on Monday.

UNSMIL late on Sunday issued a statement condemning the escalation of the deadly clashes between armed groups vying for control of the capital.

"I call on all parties to immediately refrain from the use of indiscriminate weapons in residential areas, cease all hostilities and resume ceasefire talks," said the UN's humanitarian coordinator in Libya, Maria Ribeiro.

"I also underline to all parties their obligation under international humanitarian law to ensure the safety of civilian and civilian facilities and allow safe, unimpeded and sustained humanitarian access to the affected areas," she said.

The UN is also concerned for the safety of the internally displaced persons, refugees and migrants detained in Tripoli and is working, in close coordination with authorities, to provide humanitarian assistance where needed, Ribeiro stated.

At least 14 civilians, including four children, have been killed in the week-long violence in which 47 people have died and over 100 were injured, according to the UN and Libya's Health ministry.

Some 400 prisoners manage to break out of a facility in southeast Tripoli on Sunday during armed violence between various factions in the city, police said.

Many of the prisoners held at the Ain Zara prison were reportedly supporters of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi and were convicted of killings during the uprising against his government in 2011.

Clashes between militias in the city have led Libya's UN-backed government, the Government of National Accord (GNA) to declare a state of emergency. Some of the militias involved in the fighting back the GNA.

The speaker of the Arab Parliament on Monday called for an immediate cease-fire among warring militias.

"We have followed the events unfolding in Tripoli with grave concern and underline the necessity of an immediate ceasefire to safeguard civilian lives," Mishaal bin Fahm al-Salami stated.

In the statement, Salami urged armed groups to punish "anyone who targets civilians".

--IANS/AKI
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