Ghassan Salameh: The two parties to the Libyan conflict agreed to a permanent ceasefire

Ghassan Salameh, the UN envoy to Libya, said that the Libyan parties agreed - during the meetings of the Joint Military Committee held in Geneva - to transform the truce into a permanent ceasefire.

He indicated that after two weeks, talks are expected to be held in Geneva on the political side.

The UN envoy added - at a press conference on the sidelines of the meetings of the Joint Military Commission in Geneva - that the parties will discuss today mechanisms to achieve this.

He explained that there is a "real will to start negotiations" between the two warring parties with the start of military talks between them in Geneva with the aim of reaching a permanent cease-fire, but he told reporters that the two parties violated the arms embargo and that mercenaries were still pouring into the country.

He added that for the first time, senior officers from both sides of the conflict would meet at the meetings of the Joint Military Commission, and that the two parties had expressed their agreement to the need to transform the armistice into a permanent ceasefire.

Salama called on the international parties to help the success of the United Nations efforts to resume oil production in Libya, stressing that the siege of the forces of retired Major General Khalifa Hifter to the oil fields will be discussed later.

Berlin Conference decided
The UN envoy also stressed that the decisions taken at the Berlin conference were not respected by the parties to this conflict. He pointed out that the arms embargo to the parties in Libya was breached after the Berlin conference.

On Monday, the United Nations announced the start of the meetings of the Libyan Military Joint Commission in the form of 5 + 5 under its auspices at its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

A statement issued by the UN Geneva office stated that the meetings will take place in the presence of five members of the National Accord government, and five of Haftar’s members, presided over by Salama.

On January 19, an international conference on Libya was held in the German capital Berlin, with the participation of 12 countries and four international and regional organizations. The most prominent items of his closing statement were the necessity to adhere to the declared cease-fire with a Turkish-Russian initiative.

Since April 4, 2019, Tripoli (the headquarters of the internationally recognized government of al-Wefaq) and its environs have witnessed armed battles after Haftar's forces launched an offensive to control them.