The United States and other world powers said Monday they are ready to arm Libya’s United Nations-backed government to help it battle the Islamic State.
The country’s government last month warned that the Islamic State could seize control of most of the country if its advances weren’t stopped soon. But providing arms would require an exemption to an embargo imposed on the country, something the U.S. and other countries agreed they would push for at the U.N. Security Council.
In Vienna for a meeting with 20 countries on efforts to fight the Islamic State, Secretary of State John Kerry said world powers would help Libya seek the exemption from the embargo. Kerry said the Islamic State is a “new threat” to Libya and it’s “imperative” to beat back the terrorist group, according to media reports.
The State Department Monday morning released a communiqué about the decision signed by the U.S. and four other permanent U.N. Security Council members and more than 15 other countries participating in the talks.
“We renew our firm support to Libya’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and unity. … We are ready to respond to the Libyan government’s request for training and equipping the Presidential Guard and vetted forces from throughout Libya,” the communiqué states, which also noted that the “international community” will re-open diplomatic missions in Tripoli as soon as possible.
Earlier Monday, Libya’s U.N.-created presidential council gave the green light for 18 government ministers to start working on a plan for other countries to help arm its military’s vetted fighters.
The move was an effort to jump-start military action against Islamic State and circumvent political gridlock in the country’s government, which continues to be deeply divided among rival militias and tribes since Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi’s killing five years ago.
Without Gadhafi, the country experienced a power vacuum that allowed Islamic State militants to gain ground, especially in the central city of Sirte, where the groups has planned and carried out deadly attacks.
The U.S. and other world powers fear that Islamic State could easily use the chaos in Libya to help smuggle fighters into Europe by exploiting the illegal human trafficking networks that provided safe passage to refugees to Italy from Libya.
“We look forward to partnering with [the Libya U.N.-backed government] and neighboring countries to tackle the threat posed throughout the Mediterranean and on its land borders by criminal organizations engage in all forms of smuggling and trafficking, including in human beings,” the communiqué said.
The White House called a decision just a first step in the process.
“This is the beginning of the process, not the end,” presidential press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters Monday. “This shows that the international community is coming together to try to bring some stability to that country.”
“My understanding of the way this process is working [is that the Libyan government] is now in the position to make a request for the kind of weapons they would like to see,” Earnest said. “And the United Nations will review that request and will determine whether that request can be agree to in a way that doesn’t exacerbate our concerns tat those weapons won’t fall into the wrong hands.”
