Ian Martin, the UN special envoy to Libya, warned the UN Security Council in New York on Wednesday that the continued presence of armed "revolutionary brigades" and abundance of weapons were threatening the security of the north African nation.
He told the Council that the revolutionary brigades were running out of control in the north African nation, noting that they were continuing to hold detainees from the country's civil war in secret detention centers and subjecting them to torture.
Martin said Libya's transitional government is still struggling to enforce its authority in the country, and stressed that it has so far failed to contain the violence unleashed by the revolutionary brigades that helped in toppling the regime of Col. Moammar Qadhafi last year.
"The former regime may have been toppled, but the harsh reality is that the Libyan people continue to have to live with its deep-rooted legacy," Martin said. He added that the legacy remains "weak, at times absent, state institutions, coupled with the long absence of political parties and civil society organizations, which render the country's transition more difficult".
Stating that the recent outbreak of fighting in Bani Walid, a former Qadhafi stronghold, as well as in Tripoli and several other Libyan towns were wrongly blamed on Qadhafi loyalists, Martin stressed that those clashes were actually between local people and revolutionary brigades.
"There is the ever present possibility that similar outbreaks of violence could escalate and widen in scope," Martin warned.
The Council was also briefed on Wednesday about the deteriorating situation in Libya by Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. She raised concerns about the plight of some 6,500 people continued to be held in about 60 secret detention centers by the revolutionary brigades.
"The majority of detainees are accused of being Gaddafi loyalists and include a large number of sub-Saharan, African nationals. The lack of oversight by the central authority creates an environment conducive to torture and ill treatment," she said.
Stating that her staff had received "alarming reports" of detainee mistreatment from the detention centers they visited, Pillay urged the Libyan authorities to immediately take control of these informal detention centers and ensure that the issue is addressed in a legal framework.
The developments come nearly five months after the Qadhafi regime was toppled in a NATO-backed armed revolution in August. Qadhafi, who ruled Libya for 42 years with an iron fist, was shot dead on October 20 by revolutionary fighters on the outskirts of his hometown Sirte.
The continued presence of armed militia groups even after the civil war has raised concerns about the possible outbreak of further violence in Libya. There are also concerns that the arms left behind by Qadhafi's forces as well as those supplied to the revolutionary forces by their supporters may now land up in other African nations facing Islamist insurgencies and other armed rebel movements.
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