What prompted British foreign secretary’s comments about the war-torn Libyan city that led to accusations of insensitivity?

Boris Johnson created a fresh storm at the Conservative conference and provoked calls for his resignation, after saying that the war-torn Libyan city of Sirte had only to “clear the dead bodies away” to become a world-class tourist destination like Dubai.

But what lay behind his remarks that prompted criticism of insensitivity and callousness?



Play Video 0:21 Boris Johnson: Sirte needs to ‘clear dead bodies away’ – audio

On his last visit to Libya in August, Johnson announced the Foreign Office was providing £3m to help the Libyan government clear more than 5,000 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) left by Islamic State, particularly from Sirte.

Johnson has visited Libya twice and last month held a conference on the country’s political future attended by the US secretary of state, Rex Tillerson.

The Libyan government has been struggling for months to clear elaborately laid IEDs across the city left by Isis during the near-year-long siege of the city by Libyan government forces. Islamic State seized the city in March 2015, and it was recaptured through the second half of 2016 with the help of US airstrikes and forces loyal to the UN backed government based in Tripoli.

Across Syria and Libya, Islamic State have made it a practice to install IEDs in dead bodies in the hope that their enemies would be blown up when the body was moved. Some children were also forced to carry IEDs on their bodies during the siege, and were found dead with the devices strapped to their bodies.

Other IEDs were placed in vehicles and exploded when the reverse gear was engaged.

The slow pace with which the IEDs have been cleared may have contributed to the re-establishment of Isis in the Sirte area, and probably the slowness of the recovery in the ravaged city. For instance, the city announced this week that only 75% of the security installations such as police stations have been repaired for use.

The city was the final stronghold of Muammar Gaddafi before his downfall in 2011.

At the weekend, the US Africa command announced it had resumed bombing what it regarded as Isis positions south of Sirte, the first military assault in Libya by the administration of Donald Trump. It is thought Isis is seeking to gain control of territory by setting up checkpoints since it is unlikely to survive the winter in the desert.

