The UN Security Council held a closed emergency session on Wednesday to draft a response to the killing of at least 44 people in an air strike on a migrant and refugee detention centre.
Peruvian ambassador Gustavo Meza-Cuadra, who is currently president of the council, said a statement was due, but there was still no agreement on the text.
“We will have a press statement, but we are still discussing it,” Meza-Cuadra said.
Satellite imagery of the aftermath of the airstrike that hit the migrant centre in Tripoli, Libya. Photo: Handout via Reuters
The air strike hit the Tajoura detention centre in the suburbs of Tripoli on Wednesday. Libya’s Tripoli-based government, which is backed by the UN, has blamed the attack on rival Libyan National Army forces loyal to rogue General Khalifa Hiftar.
During a two-hour closed-door meeting of the Security Council, Britain circulated a statement that condemned the air strike and called for a ceasefire.
According to diplomatic sources, the US prevented the fifteen-member Security Council from issuing a statement, although it was unclear why.
A US State Department statement released in Washington earlier had condemned the “abhorrent” air strike but did not call for a truce.
Nearby military target
The UN and the EU have both urged an investigation into the attack.
Hiftar’s forces said they were targeting a nearby military site, rather than the detention centre. Other countries suspected of alignment with his command include Russia, as well as US allies Egypt and the UAE.
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As night fell, the International Organisation for Migration said an estimated 250 migrants remained at Tajoura.
Charlie Yaxley, a spokesman for the UNHCR refugee agency, said the detention centre’s proximity to the military depot “made it a target for the airstrikes.”
“Coordinates of this detention centre were well-known to both sides of the conflict,” Yaxley said, adding that the UNHCR was sending medical teams to the site