The portable surface-to-air missiles are already circulating in three other African countries.

The conflict in the Central African Republic, CAR, could be aggravated with the arrival of surface-to-air missiles from Libya, agency reports cited a United Nations panel as warning.

According to their report presented to the UN Security Council recently, the experts documented the transfer of Libyan shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles to terrorist groups in Mali, Tunisia, Chad, Lebanon and "potentially" the Central African Republic. The report says arms trafficking out of Libya is fueling conflicts, insecurity and terrorism in several continents.

The experts said "Libya has become a primary source of illicit weapons" since the overthrow of Col. Muammar Gadaffi in 2011. According to the online paper, Journal de Bangui, the UN team has not yet found any of the portable complete missile systems that are capable of shooting down planes at low altitude in CAR. Some of the Libyan arms were handed over to rebels that fought Muammar Gadaffi by the current regime, but the fighters have since refused to disarm, disposing of the weapons in their own maner, the panel said.   

Despite efforts by Libya and other countries to account for and secure shoulder-fired missiles in the country, the panel said thousands of them were still in arsenals controlled by a wide array of militias and "non-State actors with tenuous or non-existent links to Libyan national authorities."