TRIPOLI: The United Nations on Thursday welcomed the creation of a joint security force from rival sides in Libya to secure the country's water network amid sabotage threats.
"It is a very significant step forward towards the unification of the military institution and the country," the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) said in a statement.
Earlier this month, the water authority shut down a huge network of pipelines known as the Great Man-Made River for a week before restoring supplies.
The water network was closed after loyalists of Abdullah al-Senussi, the jailed brother-in-law of slain dictator Moamer Kadhafi, threatened to sabotage it unless he was released.
Senussi, jailed in Tripoli, was sentenced to death in 2015 for his role in the attempted suppression of the 2011 uprising that toppled Kadhafi.
The Great Man-Made River was one of the major projects of Kadhafi during his four decades in power.
It brings water from underground aquifers deep in the Sahara desert in the south of Libya to settlements on the Mediterranean coast in the north.
Oil-rich Libya was gripped by violence after the 2011 uprising and split between the two rival camps, backed by foreign powers.
In October the rival sides signed a ceasefire in Geneva and an interim administration was set up in March to prepare for presidential and parliamentary elections in December.
The joint security force comprises combatants linked to the government based in Tripoli and fighters loyal to east-based military commander Khalifa Haftar, UNSMIL said.
UNSMIL head Jan Kubis said the creation of the new joint force "will not only ensure the security" of the water supply, but also "pave the way for further confidence-building measures" as Libya seeks to achieve reunification.
UN hails joint Libya force to protect water network
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UN hails joint Libya force to protect water network
- The water authority shut down a huge network of pipelines known as the Great Man-Made River for a week before restoring supplies
- The water network was closed after loyalists of Abdullah al-Senussi threatened to sabotage it unless he was released
Jordan condemns US ambassador remarks on accepting Israel’s West Bank annexation
- The Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it rejects the ambassador’s “absurd and provocative statements”
CAIRO: Jordan condemned Saturday earlier remarks by US envoy to Israel Mike Huckabee, who said it would be acceptable if Israel took control of the entire Middle East, including the West Bank.
Huckabee has suggested that he would not object if Israel were to take most of the Middle East.
The Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it rejects the ambassador’s “absurd and provocative statements,” in a statement published on Petra News Agency.
Ministry spokesman Fouad Majali said the remarks “constitute a violation of diplomatic norms, an infringement on the sovereignty of the region's countries, a blatant breach of international law and the UN Charter.”
Majali also said they contradict diplomatic efforts by the United States and the declared position of US President Donald Trump in rejecting the annexation of the occupied West Bank.
The spokesperson reaffirmed that the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip are occupied Palestinian territories under international law, and that ending Israel’s occupation is a must for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on all of the occupied Palestinian territory, based on the two-state solution.
