Libya: Rival factions agree to turn truce into lasting cease-fire, UN envoy says
The U.N. envoy to Libya said Tuesday there was a “genuine will to start negotiating” between rival military factions as they planned to meet for the first time for talks in Geneva aimed at securing a lasting cease-fire.
However, Ghassan Salame told reporters that an arms embargo was being violated by both sides and that new mercenaries and arms were still arriving “by air and by sea” in Libya, where forces loyal to eastern-based putschist Gen. Khalifa Haftar have been trying to take the capital, Tripoli, from the U.N.-recognized government for the past 10 months.
The talks bring together five senior military officers from Haftar’s so-called Libyan National Army and five representatives aligned with the internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli.
Fighting has continued on the ground despite a call for a truce by Turkey and Russia starting on Jan. 12 and an international summit on Libya in Berlin on Jan. 19 aimed at reducing international interference.