UN chief expresses horror at mass graves in Libya, urges probe into possible war crimes
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The reported site of a mass grave in the Libyan town of Tarhuna, about 65 kilometres from Tripoli, on June 11, 2020.
PHOTO: AFP
CAIRO (NYTIMES) - The United Nations chief expressed horror at the discovery of at least eight mass graves in Libya in recent days and called for a prompt and transparent investigation into possible war crimes.
The graves were uncovered after fighters loyal to General Khalifa Hifter, whose 14-month campaign to capture Tripoli, Libya, collapsed in recent weeks, retreated from Tarhuna, Libya, 40 miles (64.3km) south-east of the capital.
The mass graves were a grim reminder of the atrocities on all sides of Libya's chaotic war, a conflict fed by foreign powers seeking strategic advantage or a share of the country's vast energy reserves but which is led by lawless Libyan militias that behave with impunity.
Since he launched himself into the war in 2014, Gen Hifter, who is backed by Russia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, has sought to present himself as the leader of a disciplined, national military force.
But his troops have faced accusations of serious crimes.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was "deeply shocked" by the discovery; and he called on the Tripoli government to secure the graves, identify victims, establish causes of death and return the bodies to their next of kin.
Pictures circulating on social media showed bodies heaped in the ground, tangled in plastic, or buried in pits in the desert outside Tarhuna.
Separately, government officials found dozens of bodies in the town morgue as well as stacked inside a shipping container.
Investigators in plastic suits began the work of cataloging the decomposing bodies and said they would use DNA samples to assist with identification.
Tarhuna was Gen Hifter's final stronghold in western Libya, and after it fell last week the government's Turkish-backed forces initially faced accusations of human rights abuses.
Government troops looted stores, burned buildings and carried out revenge killings against supporters of al-Kaniyat, the Hifter-allied militia that had fled Tarhuna days earlier.
At least 16,000 people in Tarhuna and southern Tripoli were forced to flee their homes, the UN said. Then the focus turned on Gen Hifter's side, with the discovery of mass graves. It is unclear when the killings took place.
