Maghreb News-The European Union urged Libya’s political factions rally behind a unity government on Friday as Libyans mourned the victims from the deadliest attack in five years claimed by the Islamic State group and fanned fears of Jihadists gaining strength on Europe’s doorstep.
European Union foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini launched the call for Libyans’ unity following a meeting in Tunis with Fayez al-Sarraj, a businessman who was selecteded in a UN-brokered national unity government as prime minister designate.
« Libyans deserve peace and security, » said Mogherini who became the top senior Western official to meet Sarraj since his appointment as prime minister. .
« With the Libyan Political Agreement, with a presidency council, the government of national accord that we hope can be put in place soon, there is finally after so many months a real possibility to unite among Libyans and try to fight terrorism, » she said.
IS said one of its members, Abdallah al-Muhajer, « detonated a truck bomb in the middle of a base belonging to the apostate Libyan forces in the city of Zliten… killing nearly 80 of them and wounding 150 ».
Libyab security sources had said more than 50 people were killed in the attack on a police training center, which left buildings charred and turned cars into twisted wrecks.
It was the deadliest single attack in Libya since the 2011 revolution that toppled longtime strongman Mummar Gaddafi.
IS, which launched an offensive against Libya’s oil heartland this week, also said it was behind Thursday’s suicide bomb attack on a checkpoint in Ras Lanouf, home to a key oil terminal on the country’s northern coast.
The Red Crescent said six people, including a baby, died in that attack. Fears the jihadists are establishing a new stronghold on Europe’s doorstep have added urgency to attempts to bring together warring factions in a country tormented by violence and uncertainty about the future since 2011.
Libya has had rival administrations since August 2014, when an Islamist-backed militia alliance overran Tripoli, forcing the government to take refuge in the east.
In December, after months of negotiations, a minority of lawmakers from both sides signed on to the UN-brokered national unity deal which has yet to win the full support of the two parliaments. The international community has been pleading for months with Libya’s rival parliaments to embrace the UN-brokered deal.
The speakers of Libya’s rival parliaments have warned the UN-brokered deal has no legitimacy and that the politicians signing the agreement represented only themselves. Mogherini said the EU offered 100 million euros in aid to Libya as a first signal of the European bloc to bolster Sarraj’s government.
« As the Libyans express the courage and the willingness to unite, to put the country back on track… Europe, the international community is there to show its own unity in supporting this process, » she added.