The United Nations, the mediator between the conflicting parties in Libya, said on Saturday that the two conflicting parties have agreed to abide the truce.
It attributed the continuous violence and truce’s violation to the repeated influx of foreign arms which coincides with military intervention in Libya.
Turkey insists on military intervention and fighting alongside Fayez al-Sarraj forces, which control the Libyan capital, Tripoli, and this intervention comes under the pretext of signing a joint defence agreement with the internationally recognized government, giving Turkey a great influence and power in the natural gas-rich, eastern Mediterranean region.
As the U.N. Support Mission in Libya announced today, Saturday, in an official statement regarding the first round of talks on the Libyan Joint Military Committee 5 + 5 that ended today in Geneva, that the Libyan parties agree on the importance of abiding the truce started on January 12.
The mission headed by the UN envoy to Libya, Ghassan Salameh, said: “There is a big consensus between the two parties on Libya’s urgent need to preserve its sovereignty and territorial integrity, and to protect its borders.”
The U.N. statement pointed out that there is a consensus on refusing to make the national decision dependent on any external power, and to stop the influx of the non-Libyan fighters and expelling them out of the Libyan territories.
The statement also said that there is a consensus on fighting terrorist groups classified by the United Nations such as: Al Qaeda, ISIS, Ansar al-Sharia. The mission also confirmed that the two parties support the ongoing process of exchanging prisoners and returning the bodies. The mission also proposed a new round of negotiations between the two parties in Geneva on February 18.
The U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said today, Saturday, in a press conference on the sidelines of the 33rd African Summit, that the Libyan crisis has become complicated because of dispatching arms to Libya by some bodies that have become influential in the Libyan crisis, in reference to Turkey, which continues to support the Accord Government militias by sending weapons and mercenary fighters to Tripoli.
“We support the peaceful solution of the situation there,” Guterres said, stressing that the U.N. supports the reconciliation between Libyans, “The ceasefire is very important in Libya for the benefit of the people and the region,” he added.
Guterres finally called on everybody saying: “An international cooperation mechanism must be found to cooperate with Africa to confront the expanding terrorism in the continent, and to fight terrorist organizations.”
