The head of the Libyan government of reconciliation, Fayez al-Sarraj, discussed ways of military and security cooperation with Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and Qatari Minister of State for Defense Affairs Khaled Al-Attiyah, while Germany issued an appeal on military escalation.
The Turkish and Qatari ministers arrived in Tripoli on Monday, and discussed with Sarraj and Libyan officials the latest developments in the country and the military build-up in eastern Sirte and the Jufra region.
The tripartite meeting touched on areas of military and security cooperation, security and defense capacity building programs for the reconciliation government forces, and coordination mechanisms between the ministries of defense in the three countries.
The meeting was attended by Turkish Chief of Staff Yasar Gular, Turkey's ambassador to Libya, Serhat Aksin, and Qatar's ambassador to Libya, Muhammad bin Nasser.
In the same context, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin stressed that the way to solve the Libyan crisis is to mobilize the international community.
In an interview with Al-Jazeera, he added that Turkey does not prefer any military solution in any part of Libya and that it supports a peaceful solution, and affirms the results of the Berlin conference.
Kalan said that Haftar's forces have violated all ceasefire agreements, and that his country will not allow this to happen again.
He added that the German call to demilitarize the Sirte and Jufrah regions might be accepted in principle by Ankara. He explained that "the Russian mercenaries and the Emirati support for other mercenaries cause instability in Libya."
A German call, and German
Foreign Minister Heiko Maas also resolved in Tripoli, where he said that the settlement of the Libyan crisis according to the outcomes of the Berlin conference begins with a permanent ceasefire, and making the Sirte and Jafra areas demilitarized.
Maas warned of the danger of a military escalation in Libya due to the ongoing arming process of the two parties to the conflict.
In a joint press conference in Tripoli with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Libyan Government of National Accord, Mohamed Siala, Maas stressed the need to start direct talks between the two parties to resolve the crisis and ensure a fair distribution of oil revenues.
The German foreign minister warned of a "deceptive calm" currently prevailing in the country since the fighting ceased in the vicinity of Sirte, the birthplace of the late leader Muammar Gaddafi.
"Foreign powers continue to arm the country on a large scale," he said. "We are currently witnessing an illusory calm in Libya," he added.
Al-Sarraj comments:
Fayez al-Sarraj, the President of the Presidency Council of the internationally-backed Libyan Government of National Accord, expressed his appreciation for Germany's role in achieving peace in Libya through the Berlin Conference, and continuous communication with various parties in search of a way out of the crisis.
Al-Sarraj explained that the reconciliation government was the first to adhere to the Berlin process, recalling that the government agreed to a ceasefire during the Moscow meeting and the other side rejected it.
Al-Sarraj also reviewed what he described as "the failure of the other party in the Libyan conflict to abide by any understanding that occurred in the past, and its continuous breach of the covenants it makes," as he described it.
Al-Sarraj said, "We take into account our long negative experience with this party, and in fact we did not find a partner for peace," referring to the continued mobilization of the other party (the forces of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar) for its forces and the increasing number of mercenaries of the Russian Wagner Company and others.
It is noteworthy that the Turkish-backed Government of National Accord managed to repel the attack launched by Haftar on Tripoli in April 2019, which lasted for more than a year.
Last June, the Accord forces regained control of the entire western Libyan region.
Currently, the reconciliation government is gathering its forces in the vicinity of Sirte, in preparation for storming it and launching towards the strongholds of Haftar's forces in the east, which are receiving support from the UAE, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Russia.