The Presidential Council of the Libyan National Accord government welcomed any serious call to resume the political process as stipulated by the political agreement and support for the course of the Berlin conference sponsored by the United Nations, after Turkey and Russia called for a truce in Libya starting next Sunday.
In a statement issued last night, the Presidential Council did not refer to the Turkish-Russian invitation, but stressed that he was always keen on bloodshed, national unity and the adoption of a political solution to end the crisis.
He explained that the war that the National Army and the rebels are fighting is a war imposed by the aggressor (retired Major General Khalifa Hifter) and the state supporting him to overthrow the democratic path, according to the statement.
He also stressed the ability of the reconciliation forces to repel the aggression and defend the aspirations of the Libyan people to establish a civil state.
For his part, the statement of the Supreme Council of State in Libya welcomed the statement issued by the meeting of Turkish Presidents Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on the crisis in Libya and the attack on the capital, Tripoli.
The Council affirmed its keenness on any initiative that would spare the blood of Libyans and stop the war, provided that it does not constitute a threat to the Libyan army and the forces supporting the Al-Wefaq government, and links any call for dialogue with what is stipulated in the political agreement.
The Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşo أوlu said that the Turkish and Russian Presidents agreed during their talks yesterday in Istanbul to call on all parties in Libya to cease fire starting from midnight next Sunday.
For his part, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the Putin and Erdogan talks dealt with developing a common road map for solving the Libyan crisis.
Libyan sources told Al-Jazeera that the President of the Presidential Council, Fayez al-Sarraj, refused to meet yesterday evening in Rome with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, who was apparently seeking to hold a tripartite meeting in Rome that includes retired Major General Khalifa Hifter.
Conte Haftar met at the headquarters of the Italian government in Chigi Palace in Rome, while Al-Sarraj canceled the meeting with him at the last minute and returned to Tripoli last night.
The Italian government said in a statement that Conte urged Haftar to stop his attack on the legitimate government in Libya and give up the military option.
She added that he also condemned the recent raid by Haftar forces on the Military College in Tripoli, in which 32 students were killed in the college.
Al-Sarraj made a short visit to Brussels yesterday, during which he met the President of the European Council Charles Michel and the German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas.
Reuters said that al-Sarraj was warned against the deployment of Turkish forces in Libya, and from moving forward with the agreement to define maritime borders with Turkey, which was signed by the head of the Libyan Accord government with Turkish President Erdogan in late November.
Reuters added that the European Union urged Al-Sarraj to work towards a ceasefire, as part of the European Union's efforts to avoid marginalization in Libya, at a time when Russia and Turkey are seeking to enhance their influence there.
For his part, Al-Sarraj said that his government is in a state of self-defense, and that it has the right to conclude any alliances or agreements. After meeting European officials in Brussels, Al-Sarraj added that his government does not want Libya to turn into a hotbed of proxy tensions and wars.
| Conte met Hifter in the context of European efforts to stop the escalation in Libya (European) |
Continue the war
For his part, Ahmed Al-Mesmari, spokesman for the retired Libyan Major General Khalifa Hifter, said he had not received a comment from Haftar on the Turkish-Russian call for a cease-fire in Libya.
Al-Mismari added that Haftar's forces do not depend on any foreign aid, and that they managed to control the city of Sirte on the northern coast of Libya with their own efforts.
He said that the Al-Wefaq government forces should prepare another defense front other than Sirte, and that the air strikes were continuing. Haftar's forces have been waging an attack on Tripoli since April 4, and a few days ago they managed to extract the city of Sirte from Al-Wefaq forces.
On the other hand, the foreign ministers of France, Egypt, Greece and Cyprus considered that the memoranda of understanding between Turkey and the Libyan National Accord government violated the relevant Security Council resolutions and stressed that these memoranda are null and void.
In a closing statement after their meeting in Cairo, the four ministers described the Turkish-Libyan Memorandum of Understanding in the field of demarcating the maritime borders as violating the sovereign rights of other countries.
The ministers also considered sending any forces to Libya in violation of international resolutions and a threat to regional security. It is noteworthy that the Italian Foreign Minister attended the meeting, but he did not sign the final statement and did not participate in the press conference after the meeting.