Teddy Bear Bomb in Libya Linked to Serbian Arms Violations

When supporters of Libya's United Nations-recognised government took to the streets of Tripoli last week to celebrate the retreat of a renegade general, alongside the Libyan flags they carried was a large white teddy bear with a pink nose.

A heart stitched to its paws, the bear had been found several hours earlier in a house in Ain Zara on the southern outskirts of the capital as government forces retook the south of the city from retreating rebels led by military commander Khalifa Haftar, breaking a siege that had lasted 14 months.

The bear had been wedged beneath a table, presumably be retreating forces, with a mortar shell and artillery fuse strapped to its back using adhesive tape.

This was no ordinary war trophy, however. Eyewitness accounts and analysis of photographs and serial numbers show it is evidence that Serbia continues to flout a UN embargo on arms exports to Libya.

BIRN can confirm that the 120-millimetre HE M62P10 shell, bearing the number 01/2019, was produced last year by one of Serbia's biggest arms manufacturers - state-owned Krusik. Krusik did not reply to BIRN questions regarding the sale of lot 01/2019, including where the weapons were destined.

Photo: Twitter

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are among the biggest buyers of Serbian-made arms. They are also backers of Haftar.

The UAE was identified in a UN expert report late last year as one of the chief violators of the almost decade-old embargo on arms exports to Libya.

As a signatory to the UN's Arms Trade Treaty, Serbia has an obligation to refuse to sell weapons to another country - for example, the UAE - if it believes that the ultimate recipient of those weapons is not the 'end-user' specified by the buyer.

That rule has...