Overthrow Of Gaddafi Resulted In Mass Destabilization Across Africa - GRU

The overthrow of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi undermined the situation in the whole of Africa and turned Libya into one of the epicenters of global instability, Russian General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) spokesman Maj. Gen. Sergey Kovalyov said Wednesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th April, 2019) The overthrow of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi undermined the situation in the whole of Africa and turned Libya into one of the epicenters of global instability, Russian General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) spokesman Maj. Gen. Sergey Kovalyov said Wednesday.

"The West-backed overthrow of the Gaddafi regime resulted in tectonic shifts in the entire security system on the African continent. Former Jamahiriya [Gaddafi's Libya], which had served as the backbone of regional stability before the foreign interference, turned into one of the main countries for the transit of migrants, weapons and drugs," Kovalyov said on the sidelines of the Moscow Conference on International Security.

He pointed out that, according to UN data, up to 1.5 million Libyans are in dire need of humanitarian aid, 220,000 of whom are internally displaced.

Kovalyov also noted that the majority of migrants coming to the European Union were from Africa.

"According to the International Organization for Migration's data, almost 500,000 (25 percent) out of 2 million migrants, who came to the European continent within last five years, are Africans," Kovalyov said.

He added that most migrants were arriving from Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Mali, Nigeria, Somalia and South Sudan.

Following the outbreak of a civil war in Libya, Gaddafi, who had been in power for over 40 years, was brutally killed by western-backed militia in 2011. The country has been engulfed in constant political turmoil since then.