Britain must support Libya to thwart threat - PM

06:49 - 27 May 2016

The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) President Joseph Mathunjwa speaks to striking mine workers at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg, June 23, 2014.

"We have an interest in doing what we can to support the new government to help it to grow, to help it have the ability to control that country."

Prime Minister David Cameron said on Friday that Britain must support the Libyan government to help it to gain control over a country which in its present state "is a danger to us all".

Speaking at a summit of the G7 industrial powers, Cameron said Britain, like other countries, was threatened by the flow of migrants through Libya, by the increasing number of people-smuggling gangs and the rise of Islamic State in the country.

"It is clearly in our interest to do what we can to support the new fledgling Libyan government ... because of the state it's in is a danger to all of us," he told a news conference.