By RFIPosted on 12-01-2020Modified on 12-01-2020 at 17:18

Marshal Haftar and his rival Fayez al-Sarraj, head of the government of national unity based in Tripoli have accepted the truce requested by Russia and Turkey, officially started on Saturday 11 January at midnight. But the situation remains precarious. The two parties begin to accuse each other of not respecting this truce.

At this stage, there is no official statement in the camp of Marshal Haftar but in an interview with a local media, a general of his army accuses his adversaries of having " deployed different types of weapons " and in particular of " Artillery " in several directions. He denounces a " violation " of the cease-fire and says he is sticking for the moment to the last instructions received by Marshal Haftar, namely to respect the truce.

On the other side, one of the spokesmen of the pro-GNA forces of Fayez al-Sarraj described to AFP a situation " calm on all fronts ". However, at the same time, the Tripoli government accuses, in a press release, Marshal Haftar of having broken the truce in the regions of Salaheddine and Wadi al-Rabii "a few minutes after " its entry into force. He also specifies that " any cease-fire initiative cannot succeed without the withdrawal of the aggressor from where it came ", implied the Haftar forces which, for example, took over Sirte this week.

Mistrust remains

It was Marshal Haftar who first declared on Saturday that he accepted the idea of ​​a ceasefire, barely ten minutes before midnight. And before this Sunday morning his western rival, Fayez al-Sarraj, followed suit in a press release.

However, the situation on the ground remained uncertain and precarious. Already at the end of the morning this Sunday, according to Reuters, the two camps accused themselves of having violated their commitment to respect the truce. The ceasefire declarations on both sides also showed some mistrust.

Thus, the head of the Tripoli government warned that he reserved " the legitimate right " to " respond to any attack or aggression that could come from the other camp ". For their part, Marshal Haftar's forces promised a " severe response in the event of the breach of the truce ".

It must be said that on Saturday afternoon again the forces of Marshal Haftar seemed determined to continue their military offensive, launched in April, but throughout the day, diplomatic pressures increased further.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has traveled to Moscow to meet Vladimir Putin. " It is important to put an end to any armed confrontation ," said the Russian president after the interview. Shortly before, the Turkish foreign minister had publicly asked Moscow to " convince " Marshal Haftar to accept the cease-fire.

According to the UN, more than 280 civilians have been killed since the start of the pro-Haftar offensive launched in early April.

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