Libyan weapons spreading at `alarming rate`, says UN

Washington: Libyan weapons are spreading at `an alarming rate` to new territory in west Africa and the eastern Mediterranean including Syria and the Gaza Strip, a U.N. has panel said.

In a report to the U.N. Security Council, the panel said Libya has over the past two years become a significant and attractive source of weaponry in the region. The panel said civilians and militias remain in control of most weapons in Libya, adding that "the lack of an effective security system remains one of the primary obstacles to securing military materiel and controlling the borders," ABC News reports. According to the report, the 94-page report by the panel detailed arms trafficking cases that violate the embargo imposed after the 2011 uprising began as well as efforts to track down the financial assets of individuals and companies linked to former leader Muammar Gaddafi and his regime that are on the UN blacklist. The panel said it examined evidence of the delivery of weapons and ammunition from Qatar and the UAE to support the anti-Gaddafi revolutionaries during the uprising and considers that both countries violated the UN arms embargo. It cited a case of the transfer of ammunition to Libya involving the UAE, Armenia, Albania and Ukraine, a separate case involving Sudan, and the reported transfer of a drone to the Libyan opposition by a Canadian company, the report added. (ANI)