Large stockpiles of surface-to-air missiles and other weapons were looted during the conflict in Libya, giving rise to new concerns of weapons proliferation in North Africa, the UN said Wednesday.
While NATO airstrikes destroyed thousands of shoulder-launched surface-to-air-missiles, known by their acronym MANPADS, many other missiles, munitions and mines were looted by rebel troops fighting the regime of deposed leader Moamer Gaddafi, said Ian Martin, chief of the UN mission in Libya, DPA reported.
The killings on both sides in the final days of the nine-month conflict could amount to charges of war crimes, which the international justice system should look into, Martin said.
The Gaddafi regime accumulated the largest known stockpile of MANPADS, and hundreds of suspected weapons sites need to be promptly inspected by international organizations, Martin said.
"Large quantities of unexploded ordnance and ammunition stockpiles in Sirte and Bani Walid need immediate attention," Martin told the UN Security Council in New York.
Weapons stockpiles were also stored in hospitals, schools and residential areas in the capital Tripoli, which were moved there by Gaddafi's troops to avoid NATO airstrikes, he said.
The flow of weapons from Libya to neighbouring countries has become a "major concern," he said.
The killings committed by both sides in the final battle for the Libyan city of Sirte could be considered war crimes, which the National Transitional Council (NTC) planned to investigate, Martin said.
Gaddafi and his son Motassim were "mistreated and killed" after their capture last week in circumstances requiring an investigation, he said.
"The evidence has mounted of deliberate killings of prisoners by the Gaddafi regime during the conflict, including the last days in Tripoli, as well as some abuses by the revolutionary fighters," he said.
The whereabouts of another son of Gaddafi, Saif al-Islam, and former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi, remain unknown. Both have been indicted by the International Criminal Court.
Martin called for a "modern nation-state" in Libya where the ideals of democracy, rule of law, accountability and respect of human rights demanded by the popular uprisings will prevail.
Libyans are expected to form an interim government within 30 days, adopt electoral laws in three months and hold the first ever elections for a national congress in eight months.
...