On 3 September, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres circulated a report to the United Nations Security Council in which he urged countries supplying arms and equipment to the foreign fighters and mercenaries present in Libya to cease violations of the UN arms embargo in place since 2011. Guterres lamented that these foreign fighters and mercenaries continued to operate ‘with no discernable abatement of their activities’ and called for the implementation of ‘a comprehensive plan for the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all mercenaries and foreign forces from Libya, with clear timelines’. He also urged Libyan parties to ‘exert every effort’ to hold elections on 24 December as planned.
