US sanctions Libyan militia after Russia blocks UN listing
A retrospective on the Treasury's unilateral action against the al-Kaniyat militia and its leader, taken after a Security Council blacklisting failed.
What happens when a United Nations blacklisting is blocked? On 25 November 2020, the United States Department of the Treasury answered by acting alone. It announced sanctions on the al-Kaniyat militia, which was linked to the Libyan National Army, and on its leader, Mohamed al-Kani.
The move followed Russia's decision to block the UN Security Council from blacklisting the group. The allegations concerned human rights abuses in the city of Tarhuna, committed during the 14-month military offensive led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar.
The sanctions were set within the Libyan peace process and the wider Second Libyan Civil War. They were unilateral, meaning they rested on American authority rather than a Security Council decision.
A separate Russian–American friction
The previous day, 24 November 2020, brought another point of contention between Moscow and Washington. Russia said its navy had made a United States destroyer turn back after threatening to ram it, claiming the ship had crossed its territorial waters in the Peter the Great Gulf by two kilometres. The U.S. navy said the destroyer had conducted a freedom of navigation operation to challenge a Russian claim to enclose the waters of a bay, which it described as inconsistent with international law as reflected in the Law of the Sea Convention.
