The African Union (AU) is calling for the international community to pay “greater attention” to the ongoing unrest in Libya.

On 30 January, Mauritania’s president and the head of the AU, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, told the AU summit in Ethiopia that international efforts on resolving the crisis needed to continue “until the Libyan parties reach an agreement that ends the crisis and re-establishes the authority of the state”.

His comments come days after regional leaders said they believed the country’s problems could not be resolved through military intervention.

“The only solution to bring an end to the current crisis in Libya is a political settlement,” said Libya’s Foreign Minister Mohamed Dayri, after meeting with the AU’s International Contact Group for Libya.

Libya is currently working through a fragile peace process mediated by the UN.

On 29 January, the UN announced that participants in peace talks in Geneva agreed to convening future sessions of the dialogue in Libya, providing proper security is put in place.

“Participants expressed concern about the prevailing security conditions in different areas, condemning in particular the recent attack in Tripoli that took place as they were meeting at the UN office at Geneva,” said a statement released by the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL).

Amnesty International has called for targeted sanctions to stop the escalating violence.

The measures are needed to stop “rampant abductions, torture, summary killings and other abuses” in Libya’s second city of Benghazi, according to a report released by the human rights group on 27 January.

“Over the past few months, as tit-for-tat attacks by rival forces in the city continue to escalate, Benghazi has steadily descended into chaos and misrule,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Amnesty International. “The city has been ripped apart by spiralling violence waged by rival groups and their supporters seeking vengeance.” 

The report says atrocities are being carried out both by troops loyal to the internationally recognised government that is based in the east of the country as well as forces linked to the Islamist-led government, which currently controls Tripoli.

On 26 January, oil officials affiliated with the forces that control Tripoli told news agency Reuters that production stood at 363,000 barrels a day (b/d), with exports at 200,000 b/d.

This figure is down from 750,000 b/d in November last year.

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