Human rights groups in Libya have accused the United Arab Emirates of committing war crimes in the country, including killing hundreds of civilians. The rights groups said on Sept. 26 that the UAE committed these crimes through direct air-strikes on Libya, and by backing the renegade general Khalifa Haftar [9]. The findings were presented at a press conference on the sidelines of the UN Human Rights Council [10] meeting in Geneva, Switzerland. Libyan witnesses and survivors spoke of extrajudicial killings, forced hunger, and displacement that they or their kin experienced at the hands of Haftar in Derna and Ganfouda, provinces in Libya's east. Survivors affiliated with the organization Human Rights Solidarity also described alleged UAE air raids in the Libyan capital Tripoli in August 2014. (Al Jazeera [11])
The press conference came the same day that Haftar, who just recently threatened to attack Italian warships [12], arrived in Rome to meet with Italian officials. (The Guardian [13])
The UAE has been accused of carrying out air-strikes [14] on Libyan territory from bases in Egypt, and both countries' embassies in Tripoli have been targeted by militants [15]. Various foreign powers have been sporadically bombing [16] targets in Libya for months.
