US says EU naval mission off Libya ignores UAE, Russia’s activities, focuses on Turkey only

BY Libyan Express Jul 18, 2020 - 15:31 Updated: Jul 18, 2020 - 15:33

US senior diplomat David Schenker. [Photo: Twitter]

The European Union naval mission to stop arms shipments to war-torn Libya is not “serious”, a senior US diplomat has said, accusing the bloc of not doing enough to end violations of a UN arms embargo by countries such as Russia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt.

David Schenker, the assistant secretary for Near East Affairs, said on Thursday the EU was biased and criticised only Turkey’s involvement in the conflict.

“The only interdictions that they [EU] are doing is of Turkish military material that they’re sending to Libya. Nobody is interdicting Russian aircraft, nobody is interdicting Emirati aircraft, nobody is interdicting the Egyptians,” Schenker told German Marshall Fund think-tank during a virtual discussion.

“They could at least, if they were serious, I think, call them out – call out all parties of the conflict when they violate the arms embargo,” he said.

The views expressed in Op-Ed pieces are those of the author and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of Libyan Express.
How to submit an Op-Ed: Libyan Express accepts opinion articles on a wide range of topics. Submissions may be sent to oped@libyanexpress.com. Please include ‘Op-Ed’ in the subject line.