TRIPOLI, 03 December, 2020, (TON): At least 20,000 foreign fighters and mercenaries are in Libya causing a “serious crisis” as weapons continue pouring into the war-ravaged North African nation, a United Nations official warned on Wednesday.

“That is a shocking violation of Libyan sovereignty, a blatant violation of the arms embargo,” UN acting envoy Stephanie Williams told an online meeting of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum.

“It is incumbent upon all actors to respect Libyan requests for them to depart the country so that Libyans can come together, so that the ceasefire can actually be implemented, that military forces can withdraw,” Williams later told media.

Her remarks reflect her exasperation over the lack of progress on the departure of foreign fighters and mercenaries from Libya, which was part of a ceasefire deal signed in October.

The ceasefire set a three-month deadline for foreign forces to leave Libya. Thousands, including Russians, Syrians, Sudanese and Chadians – have been brought in by rival sides, according to UN experts.

Williams also slammed unspecified foreign governments for “behaving with complete impunity” and deepening the Libyan conflict with mercenaries and weapons.

UN making its efforts to end the chaos in Libya, which has been gripped by violence since a NATO-backed uprising in 2011 overthrew and killed veteran leader Muammar Gaddafi.

The country has since 2015 been dominated by armed groups and divided between two bitterly opposed administrations: the UN-brokered Government of National Accord (GNA) and a rival administration in the east backed by renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar.

The Libyan Political Dialogue Forum is a comprehensive dialogue held on the basis of the outcome of the Berlin Conference on Libya, which was ratified by the Security Council in Resolution 2510 (2020) and Security Council Resolution 2542(2020).

The 75-member forum is trying to get Libya’s warring sides to agree on a mechanism that would establish a transitional administration to lead the country through presidential and parliamentary elections in December 2021.