EU: 'Too many weapons' in postwar Libya
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Xinhua, September 7, 2011
A senior European Union (EU) official warned on Tuesday that there were too many weapons circulating in a post-war Libya.
"Situation is going back to normality (in the Libyan capital of Tripoli). Still you feel sense of fragility, mainly due to the fact there are too many weapons around," said Agostino Miozzo, Managing Director for Crisis Response in the European External Action Service (EEAS).
"You see even in the capital, in a normal way, some hundreds or thousands of young men walking around with their Kalashnikovs, with their pistols, with their arms," said Miozzo, who recently led an EU team to Tripoli to assess the situation on the ground.
The EU official said that Libyan rebels' authority, the National Transitional Council (NTC), had been focusing on tackling the proliferations of weapons to restore security in Libya.
During his five-day stay in Libya, Miozzo contacted with the NTC official and diplomats from Eurepean countries to "analyse priorities and possibilities" to support the NTC.
"In terms of priorities, Libyan authorities and all the people we met are referring to security sector, water, sanitation, health sector, civil society, women and human rights," he said.
In addition, Miozzo said that EU would work with other partners to provide assistance to Libya in a coordinated way to "avoid duplication."
The bloc is to reinforce its presence in Tripoli and a second EU team will depart in a few days, he said.
