Address security, U.N. tells Libya

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UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 30 (UPI) -- Security sector reform in Libya is one of the many areas where the new government can improve, the head of the U.N. support mission there said.

Libya has ramped up security in recent days in response to a terrorist attack on a natural gas installation in neighboring Algeria. Attacks on Western diplomatic outposts in Benghazi, Libya, raised concerns about the country's stability two years after civil war.

Tarek Mitri, head of the U.N. mission in Libya, briefed members of the U.N. Security Council on Libya's post-war progress.

"It is worth insisting that many difficult decisions have yet to be taken in the areas of constitution-making, transitional justice, reconciliation and, it goes without saying, security sector reform," he said.

Libyan National Congress President Mohamed Magharief this week called on members of civil, religious and political society to discuss plans for a future national reconciliation effort in the country.

"In going forward, broad-based support to these decisions is necessary," said Mitri. "For this purpose, Libyan authorities, political forces, community and tribal leaders, revolutionaries and civil society organizations should engage in a process of national dialogue."