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AFP
Geneva
Libya’s warring sides have hashed out a draft ceasefire agreement, the UN said on Monday, even as Libyan leaders decried international inaction to rein in hostilities still raging in the war-ravaged country.
The UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) announced that two rounds of indirect negotiations in Geneva between Libya’s Government of National Accord (GNA) and eastern military commander Khalifa Haftar’s forces had resulted in a draft ceasefire deal.
The text, which will now be discussed by the leadership on both sides, proposes that the United Nations and a military commission with members from both sides monitor the safe return of displaced civilians to their homes.
The UN said the sides would meet again next month to discuss implementation terms, but given the state of hostility between the sides, prospects for a lasting truce remain unclear.
The head of Libya’s UN-recognised GNA government, Fayez al-Sarraj, slammed Haftar before the UN on Monday as a “war criminal”, and decried international inaction to halt the violence.
“The entire world has been able to see the escalation in hostilities and attacks against the capital Tripoli since April 4, 2019,” Sarraj told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
But he lamented that despite large numbers of people killed and displaced by Haftar’s actions, “until today, we have not seen action by the international community.”
In the latest outbreak of fighting, Haftar launched his offensive on Tripoli last April but after rapid advances his forces stalled on the outskirts of the capital.
The fighting has claimed more than 1,000 lives and displaced some 140,000, according to the UN.
Geneva
Libya’s warring sides have hashed out a draft ceasefire agreement, the UN said on Monday, even as Libyan leaders decried international inaction to rein in hostilities still raging in the war-ravaged country.
The UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) announced that two rounds of indirect negotiations in Geneva between Libya’s Government of National Accord (GNA) and eastern military commander Khalifa Haftar’s forces had resulted in a draft ceasefire deal.
The text, which will now be discussed by the leadership on both sides, proposes that the United Nations and a military commission with members from both sides monitor the safe return of displaced civilians to their homes.
The UN said the sides would meet again next month to discuss implementation terms, but given the state of hostility between the sides, prospects for a lasting truce remain unclear.
The head of Libya’s UN-recognised GNA government, Fayez al-Sarraj, slammed Haftar before the UN on Monday as a “war criminal”, and decried international inaction to halt the violence.
“The entire world has been able to see the escalation in hostilities and attacks against the capital Tripoli since April 4, 2019,” Sarraj told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
But he lamented that despite large numbers of people killed and displaced by Haftar’s actions, “until today, we have not seen action by the international community.”
In the latest outbreak of fighting, Haftar launched his offensive on Tripoli last April but after rapid advances his forces stalled on the outskirts of the capital.
The fighting has claimed more than 1,000 lives and displaced some 140,000, according to the UN.
