zoomImage Courtesy: UN/Kim Haughton

The United Nations Security Council reauthorized its member states on Monday to inspect vessels on the high seas off Libya’s coast suspected of violation of the arms embargo imposed on the country.

With the move, the Council extended the authorizations for one more year, under which the member states are free to seize and dispose of arms and ammunition found during the inspection of such vessels.

Amr Abdellatif Aboulata, Egypt’s representative pressed the Council to exclude Libya’s armed forces from the embargo in order to enable the country to protect itself.

Pointing out that the resolution addressed only one of Libya’s many challenges, he emphasized that further attention must be drawn to the fact that certain states were funding terrorist groups in the country and that more efforts were needed to track and locate illegal weapons caches.

The move is described as part of the UN’s commitment to Libya’s stability.

In 2016, UNSC issued authorization to member states to “use all measures” to inspect vessels off the coast of Libya believed to be in violation of the arms embargo.

The Council said that the decision was aimed at stopping the flow of arms and related materiel into Libya, including to Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh) and other terrorist groups in the country.