UN’s Libya Envoy Fears Mali War Will Drive Islamists Into Libya

Armed in Libya, Islamist Rebels May Come Back

UN Special Representative to Libya Tarek Mitri expressed concern today that as the French invasion of Mali continues to press northward, the rebel factions may flee across the border into Algeria and wind up in Libya.

Interestingly, the Mali rebels obtained most of their weaponry in the first place from Libya, as the NATO-imposed regime change led to looting of the Gadhafi regimes arsenal and its sale on black markets across the region.

Those weapons may end up back in Libya the hard way, as the fighters in Mali eventually back out of the desert north of that nation and resettle as armed factions in southern Libya, an area that already has plenty of such warring factions.

Mitri warned that Libya is already struggling with stability and that ideological and ethnic affiliations with the Mali rebels could convince them that Libya is a place where they could not only relocate, but make a serious impact.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.