TRIPOLI: Violence in Libya killed 643 people last year, amid a sharp rise in crime, according to a parliamentary report that laments a lack of effective policing in the increasingly lawless North African country.
Since a Nato-backed uprising ousted and killed Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya’s authorities have struggled in vain to contain lawlessness, much of it perpetrated by former militias who fought to overthrow the long-time dictator.
In its report, the internal affairs committee of the General National Congress said “crime has become a profession and a source of income in the absence of an effective police force, despite their being 250,000 policemen.”
It noted that Libya has one policeman for every 30 people, saying that number is not high enough.
It attributed the rise in crime to “a lack of respect for the law and the impunity with which its perpetrators act,” noting that the country is awash with weapons, mostly in the hands of former militias.
AFP
