Rights group urges Libya's GNA to investigate 338 missing in Tarhuna
Human Rights Watch called on the Tripoli-based government to probe disappearances linked to the Kaniyat militia.
More than 300 residents of the Libyan town of Tarhuna have been abducted or reported missing since the start of the country’s civil war, a prominent rights group said in a report Thursday that called on authorities in Tripoli to investigate the disappearances.
Since the Kaniyat militia took control of the western Libyan city of Tarhuna in 2015, at least 388 people have been reported missing. Family members who spoke with the New York-based Human Rights Watch all alleged that the Kaniyat armed group was behind the disappearances of their relatives.
Located some 57 miles southeast of Tripoli, Gen. Khalifa Hifter’s Libyan National Army (LNA) used Tarhuna as a staging ground for a 14-month offensive against the capital, which ended in defeat this summer. The Kaniyat militia, which is loyal to Hifter, had controlled Tarhuna until the internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) recaptured it in June.
The North African country descended into chaos amid a 2011 uprising that overthrew and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi. The country is now ruled by two administrations, each supported by foreign backers who have flooded the country with illegal arms and mercenaries.
