Military representatives from rival camps in Libya have agreed a ceasefire. The UN envoy Stephanie Williams announced today in Geneva. The moment will go down in history, Williams said.
Military representatives of Prime Minister Fajis al-Sarradsch and General Khalifa Haftar had been in Geneva since Monday to prepare political talks on the future of Libya. These talks are scheduled to begin in November in Tunisia.
Five military representatives from each side were involved in the Geneva talks. Therefore the conversations were called 5 + 5. The format was agreed at the Berlin Libya Conference in January.
The negotiators had already agreed on modalities for oil production in the past few days in order to be able to expand production again. There was also an agreement to open roads and air connections between the regions. They also want to take action against people who spread hate speech on social networks and fuel conflicts.
„Keep hands off Libya“
Williams had denounced the presence of foreign militiamen. „The level of foreign intervention is unacceptable,“ she said. “These countries must keep their hands off Libya.” At the beginning of the week, she emphasized that foreign fighters would have to leave the country under UN supervision within 90 days as soon as a ceasefire was reached.
The EU welcomed the agreement on the ceasefire in Libya and described the implementation as an important prerequisite for stronger European support for the country. The agreement is a key element for the resumption of the political peace process, and this in turn is a prerequisite for promised EU support, said a spokesman for EU Foreign Affairs Representative Josep Borrell. We are aware that implementing the ceasefire will be more difficult than negotiating it. The agreement is „very, very good news“.
