The situation in Libya is deteriorating rapidly.
The warning comes from the UN, which notes that the security situation is deteriorating daily and that the economic situation is very difficult. One reason is the protracted power struggle in the North African country.
The situation has deteriorated very rapidly over the past two years, says Stephanie Koury, who leads the UN mission Unsmil in Libya, at a meeting of the Security Council in New York.
Libya's nearly seven million inhabitants have lived in a ravaged country since the uprisings in 2011 when the then dictator Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown. The rebel movement received support from NATO, but since then the country has fallen into chaos.
The UN-backed government in Tripoli is besieged and challenged by the military leader Khalifa Haftar, whose forces control large areas of land.
Haftar has close relations with Russia and received support from Egypt and the United Arab Emirates in the Libyan power struggle.