UN Envoy to Libya, Ghassan Salame Banned From Using Libyan Airport

For the first time since assuming his position as the sixth UN Envoy to Libya, Ghassan Salame was banned by Fayez al-Sarraj’s Government of National Accord (GNA) from using Zuwarah International Airport in the country’s west.

No official comment was made by the UN envoy regarding the ban, yet pro-government media revealed that the envoy informed the airport’s administration that the mission’s employees would stop using it.

In televised statements, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Transport Hisham Bushkiwat said Saturday that no landing permit would be given to Salame’s airplane at the facility, saying his plane should land at Mitiga International Airport, the only airport operating in Tripoli.

Earlier, Bushkiwat called on Salame to visit Mitiga airport along with his deputy to confirm that it is being used for civil purposes only, unlike his briefings to the Security Council.

Meanwhile, pro-Sarraj militias demanded Salame to apologize for his controversial reading to the Council on Monday regarding the political and military situation in Libya.

The Counter-Terrorism Force expressed its firm rejection to the envoy’s statements with respect to extremists fighting in the ranks of Sarraj’s forces in Tripoli, demanding an apology.

Days earlier, Sarraj announced that he summoned Salame and handed him a memorandum to object fallacies in his reading on the situation in Libya.

In his reading, Salame called on the authorities in Tripoli to stop using the airport for military purposes, and the attacking forces to stop targeting it – hinting to the forces loyal to Libyan National Army (LNA) leader Khalifa Haftar.

He also spoke about uncertain claims of violations against human rights in Garyan, after Haftar’s forces laid hands on it.

This article has been adapted from its original source.