WORLD : LIBYA'S TRAGIC LIMBO

AT least six outside nations are fueling the civil war with virtual impunity.

It was one of the most shocking episodes of recent fighting in Libya, and the United Nations seemed determined to get to the bottom of it.

A 13-page report published recently described the in stark detail the bombing in July last of a detention center in the town of Tajoura, near Tripoli, which killed 53 people, mostly African migrants. The United Nations report featured testimony from survivors, measured the bomb creator and called for an investigation into a possible war-crime.

What it conspicuously failed to do, though, was identify the perpetrator. ''A foreign state,'' investigators concluded.

The United Nations' reluctance to identify or even hint at who was behind the bombing is symptomatic, analysts say, of the weakness of its nine-year-old arms embargo on Libya, one so widely flouted that the body's envoy to Libya last year said what risked becoming a ''cynical joke.''

At least six foreign nations are fueling the mayhem in Libya, supplying supplying weapons, mercenaries or military advisers to rival factions battling for the control of oil-rich country.

But none of these outside actors has ever been held to account, avoiding scrutiny by exploiting either international divisions over Libya or their ties to Western powers like the United States.

Sometimes they manage to avoid mention at all.

The honor and serving of the latest developments of  this tragic war in Libya, continues The World Students Society thanks author Declan Walsh.