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UN Envoy: Airstrike on Libyan Detention Could be War Crime

VOA News

   The United Nations envoy to Libya says the airstrikes on a detention
   center for migrants outside of Libya's capital that killed at least 40
   people could be a war crime.

   Ghassan Salame said in a statement Wednesday the strikes "clearly could
   constitute a war crime" as they "killed, by surprise, innocent people
   whose dire conditions forced them to be in that shelter."

   The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and African Union
   have also condemned airstrikes, which wounded more than 130 people.

   Libyan health officials said in addition to those killed in the strikes
   late Tuesday, another 80 people were wounded.

   U.N. High Commission for Refugees Filippo Grandi said in the aftermath
   of the attacks that civilians must not be targets, that migrants and
   refugees should not be detained, and that Libya is not a safe place to
   return migrants who are rescued trying to make the dangerous crossing
   of the Mediterranean Sea to Europe.

   Grandi called on those countries with influence on the parties involved
   in Libya's conflict to work together to end the fighting.

   The battle for control of Libya's internationally-recognized government
   and the Libyan National Army (LNA) of a rival government led by general
   Khalifa Haftar has been raging for months in the Tripoli suburbs with
   little progress made. The U.N.-backed government blamed the LNA for the
   strikes.

   African Union Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat called for all
   sides to ensure the safety of civilians, especially detained migrants,
   while demanding an independent investigation into Tuesday's airstrikes.

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