Statement on bombing of military academy in Tripoli
At 8 p.m. Saturday, January 4, 2020, residents of Tripoli, Libya’s capital, were shocked and horrified by an aerial strike that targeted the military academy inAl-Hadaba region, a strike which killed about 30 and injured morethan 40 students.According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Health’s ambulance and medical service, the victims’ ages range between 18 and 20, the strike took place as they were at an evening gathering to give an all-clear signal and then return to their places of residence within the academy, the academy is a military educational institution that does not contain any military or combat manifestations.
In a press statement on Al-Hurra channel, Mr. Khaled Al-Mahjoub (head of the Department of Moral Guidance of Haftar’s forces “the Libyan National Army”) addressed that they had certain information that those who were in the military academy in Al-Hadaba were a training group for militias in Abu Salim and he accused militias in Tripoli of carrying out this attack in order to stop a popular uprising in Tripoli that was scheduled to start at 10 p.m.
The Democratic transition & human rights support center (DAAM)affirms that this horrible crime is classified as a war crime, and that it is a result of escalation of military operations that have increased in the recent period in Tripoli, operations which are tremendously and rapidlytargeting innocent victims and causing causalities on a daily basis.
The Democratic transition & human rights support center (DAAM) recalls that such violations violate all international laws and treaties which Libya is bound by, and that the classification of such violations as war crimes holds its perpetrators liable however long it takes, as these crimes are imprescriptibleinternally and internationally.
The Democratic transition & human rights support center (DAAM) also calls upon international organizations involved in the Libyan affair to take their responsibility in stopping this tampering with innocent lives and targeting civilians, and in identifying those who are responsible for these crimes to bring them before international justice as soon as possible.
The Democratic transition & human rights support center (DAAM) emphasizes the need for Libyan-Libyan consensus to end this armed conflict anddivision, and to return to the voice of reason and wisdom instead of the language of escalation, war and arms and to uphold Libya’s interest over all narrow considerations and calculations.
The Democratic transition & human rights support center (DAAM) praises the national peace initiative , which was sent by a youth group from east Libya, calling for rejecting war, returning to language of dialogue, resorting to settle conflicts through democratic mechanisms such as elections, and repealing the new Libyan constitution.
