UN-sponsored .. Military talks in Geneva between the government of reconciliation and Haftar

The United Nations said that meetings of representatives of the parties to the Libyan conflict began on Monday within the framework of a joint military committee sponsored by the international organization, with the aim of reaching a permanent ceasefire agreement after 10 months of clashes between the forces of the Libyan National Accord government and the forces of retired Major General Khalifa Haftar in the southern neighborhoods of the capital Tripoli .

A UN statement indicated that five of the senior officers represent the Al-Wefaq government, and five represent Haftar's forces participating in the talks being held under the management of the UN envoy to Libya, Ghassan Salameh.

According to the outputs of the Berlin conference held two weeks ago, the committee’s tasks are to define the executive formulas for a permanent ceasefire, and to draw the lines to which the warring forces in Libya will withdraw, and Reuters quoted diplomats as saying that the Geneva military talks aim to build confidence between the warring parties and establish a mechanism To observe a cease-fire.

Persuade Hifter
It is reported that the talks were supposed to start last Tuesday, but were postponed due to the absence of Haftar's representatives. Salama had visited Khalifa Hifter in Benghazi last Saturday to persuade him to participate in the work of the Joint Military Commission.

Haftar forces have been launching an attack since early April 2019 to control Tripoli, the headquarters of the Al-Wefaq government, and the fighting has displaced more than 150,000 people and the intervention of many regional powers in the armed conflict.

The parties to the conflict in Tripoli had agreed to implement a ceasefire on January 12, following an invitation from Turkey and Russia, but the truce was violated many times amid an exchange of accusations between Haftar and the Al-Wefaq government forces of responsibility for these violations.

The United Nations said that shipments of weapons and fighters are still arriving in Libya after the Berlin conference, and the UN envoy Ghassan Salama last week condemned the continued foreign interference in the affairs of this Arab country despite the pledges of the Berlin Conference.

It is noteworthy that Libya has been in a state of conflict and political and military turmoil since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi's regime in late 2011, and the intensity of the conflict in the country intensified last year as Haftar forces began their attack on Tripoli.