Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Unintended Consequences: UN Officials Are Worried 200K Armed Libyan Rebels Could Join Jihad In Mali

Supporting those Libyan rebels, without knowing who they really were, is, unsurprisingly, about to come back and bite the Western world in the ass.
(AFP) There are still 200,000 armed fighters in "revolutionary brigades" in Libya, a top UN envoy said Tuesday, expressing fears that Mali's conflict could spillover into the country.

Foreign governments have raised concerns about security in Libya and UN envoy to the country Tarek Mitri said France's military campaign in Mali had opponents in Libya.

"Opposition of armed radical groups to the military intervention in Mali may exacerbate the situation given ideological and/or ethnic affiliations as well as porous borders in Libya," Mitri told the Security Council.

He said that border security was a "concern" because of unrest in Libya, particularly around the eastern city of Benghazi, and "the possible impact of recent developments in Mali."

Mitri told reporters after the meeting there are up to 200,000 armed men in the revolutionary brigades that overthrew late dictator Moamer Kadhafi who are still not under government control.

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