Tripoli— The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) said Sunday that its headquarters in Tripoli “were not impacted” and confirmed that it had received reports that a rocket was launched.
According to a statement issued on Sunday, UNSMIL said it “has received reports that a rocket was launched in the vicinity of its compound during the briefing of the Special Representative of Secretary-General (SRSG), Hanna Tetteh, to the Security Council.”
The unusual development comes amid growing deep frustration by the Libyan people at the UN mission in Libya as it fails to help the country ends the over fifteen years of violence, division and instability.
“The Mission’s premises were not impacted,” UNSMIL stressed.
“UNSMIL acknowledges with appreciation the vigilance of the Libyan authorities and their swift measures to thoroughly investigate this incident and ensure continued security of UN facilities,” the statement added.
On 24 June, protesters stormed UNSMIL’s headquarters in Janzour area, west of Tripoli, following a briefing by the head of the mission, Hanna Tetteh, to the UN Security Council on developments in Libya.
On 22 October, the head of the Parliament-appointed government in eastern Libya, Osama Hammad, filed a complaint against Ms. Tetteh with the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, and the President and members of the Security Council regarding what he called “the blatant violations of national sovereignty and unjustified interference in the internal affairs of Libyan state institutions.”
He considered this “a continuing absurd approach that represents a serious deviation from the mission’s mandate, undermines confidence in its impartiality and credibility, and violates the mutual respect that is the basis of cooperation between Libya and international organizations.”
In a statement on October 14, PM Hammad said that Tetteh’s practices were exceeding the limits of its mandate, stipulated in Article (2), paragraph (7) of the UN Charter, making its role as facilitator of a political process in Libya useless.