The battle for Tripoli worsens as the UN meets to overcome the crisis

The battle for the Libyan capital intensified as the UN Security Council met on Wednesday to discuss the crisis in the North African country, where armed rivals are struggling with a deadly fight for the country. power.

In-camera talks in New York come one day after the UN postponed a Libyan national conference to establish a road map for the elections because of the fighting raging at the gates of Tripoli.

Libya has been divided into divisions since the overthrow of dictator Moammar Gaddafi, supported by NATO in 2011, as various armed groups and two parallel governments competed for oil and territorial wealth.

Violent clashes took place on Wednesday in Ain Zara district, in the southeastern suburbs of Tripoli, as forces of Khalifa Haftar, a military man, launched an badault to take the capital of the government. of the Government of the National Accord (GNA), supported by the UN.

"The fighting has intensified, we are afraid to leave the house," a local resident told AFP, by telephone, where the roads were blocked, preventing people fleeing to flee.

The violence has already displaced thousands and left dozens dead.

The Libyan Red Crescent said it had evacuated civilians Wednesday morning but that it had until now only access to the combat zones controlled by the GNA.

Led by Fayez al-Sarraj, the authority of the GNA is not recognized by a parallel administration in the east of the country, allied with Haftar.

Thirty families have been evacuated from Ain Zara and Wadi Rabi, a district further south, to hostels or homes of relatives and friends, said the Red Crescent on its Facebook page.

The United Nations Security Council has begun to meet in camera to discuss next steps. Diplomats said Britain was discussing a draft resolution.

"We agree with the Secretary-General that there should be a ceasefire, but at the moment we have no text," said the spokesman. British Ambbadador Karen Pierce to reporters before the negotiations.

& # 39; Cat & mouse & # 39;

The so-called Libyan National Army (LNA) of Haftar, which controls part of the east of the country, said that it had seized a barracks in the Aziziya region, about 50 kilometers away. south of Tripoli, after "ferocious clashes".

He said several fighters loyal to the UN-backed government had been arrested and their weapons seized.

"For the moment, it's still a game of cat and mouse," said a commander of a pro-GNA group.

"We are still organizing ourselves, the war has not really started," he told AFP.

The internationally recognized government has conducted several air strikes against LNA positions south of Tripoli and has also hit supply lines in central Libya, GNA spokesman Colonel Mohamed Gnounou said Tuesday.

Haftar's forces appear to be advancing on two fronts, south and south-east of Tripoli, while the coastal roads to the east and west of the city are defended by GNA-loyal fighters. .

Children at risk

Haftar defied international calls to end the surprise offensive launched Thursday.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance was "deeply concerned about the situation in Libya".

"The ongoing military operation and the advance on Tripoli increase the suffering of the Libyan people and endanger the lives of civilians," he said.

The United Nations agency for children (UNICEF) said that "nearly half a million children in Tripoli and tens of thousands of others in areas Westerners are directly threatened by the intensification of fighting ".

The GNA Ministry of Health announced Monday the death toll of 35 dead in the fighting. Haftar's forces said 14 of their fighters were dead.

The UN said the clashes had displaced about 3,400 people.

Although the number of casualties remains limited so far, the International Crisis Group has warned that a new escalation "could precipitate a humanitarian catastrophe."

"If it were unleashed, a full-fledged offensive could become an indirect war between the regional powers and cause countless losses as well as an immense devastation," a report said Wednesday.

Peace efforts stagnate

International efforts to end the Libyan conflict have failed several times.

The rival leaders agreed last year to hold elections before December 10, 2018 as part of a French plan, but this vote never materialized.

The national conference, to be held from April 14 to 16 in the central city of Ghadames, aimed to set the dates for the legislative and presidential elections and prepare a new constitution.

UN envoy Ghbadan Salame, announcing his postponement, said: "We can not ask people to participate in the conference during gunfire and air strikes".

He expressed the hope that the meeting would take place "as soon as possible".

Haftar, whose main allies are the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Russia, is a former Gaddafi military leader who has become a major player in the political struggle in Libya.

Its offensive threatens to plunge the country into a full-fledged civil war and has highlighted divisions between world powers over how to end the chaos that has reigned in Libya since 2011.