The head of the UN mission in Libya, Jan Kubis, said that the withdrawal of mercenaries and foreign forces should begin without delay as a decisive measure for the stability of the country and the security of the region, while the United States expressed its support for the United Nations in the importance of the withdrawal of mercenaries and holding the elections on the specified date next December.
During a meeting yesterday, Wednesday, with members of the Joint Military Committee in Libya, Kubis called for focusing on how to fully implement the ceasefire agreement.
The UN official stressed that the two parties emphasized the importance of withdrawing mercenaries, foreign fighters and foreign forces without delay, as a "decisive measure for the stability of Libya, ensuring its security and unity, and for the stability and security of the entire region."
Kubis and the Joint Military Committee in Libya discussed the UN Security Council resolution on the 16th of this month to send a delegation of UN observers to monitor the ceasefire, and the necessary steps to develop a national plan for disarmament, demobilization, reintegration and security sector reform.
In the same context, Libyan Foreign Minister Najla Al-Manqoush stressed, in her meeting with the UN envoy, the need to withdraw mercenaries and foreign forces within a clear framework and clear timetables, and the minister added that her country needs a comprehensive program for disarmament and reintegration of fighters, in order to extend state control over all weapons. .
The Special Envoy to Libya discusses with the Joint Military Committee in Sirte the implementation of the ceasefire agreement and the urgent security issues
Full statement via the link https://t.co/BOXxvj28PF pic.twitter.com/5nV6tlWkAx
- UNSMIL (@UNSMILibya) April 28, 2021
The US embassy in Tripoli said - yesterday in a statement via its Twitter account - that Washington joins the United Nations Support Mission in Libya and other parties, to stress the importance of the rapid withdrawal of mercenaries, fighters and foreign forces from Libya, and also to hold parliamentary and presidential elections on December 24. The next first, according to the ceasefire agreement and Security Council resolutions.
The coastal road
On the other hand, the head of the UN mission expressed his dissatisfaction with the delay in opening the coastal road between eastern, western and southern Libya, and urged to expedite the removal of all obstacles to this.
The Libyan Joint Military Committee, which includes 5 soldiers from the Libyan government and the same retired Major General Khalifa Haftar, said last Tuesday that the opening of the coastal road linking Misurata and Sirte had reached its final stages after the completion of the demining.
On February 6, the Military Committee agreed to clear mines from Sirte (450 km east of Tripoli) and the roads leading to it, starting from the 10th of the same month, in preparation for the opening of the closed coastal road since Haftar's forces attacked Tripoli in April 2019.
The Libyan crisis witnessed a breakthrough in recent days, after the parties managed to ratify a unified transitional authority whose government is headed by Abdul Hamid al-Dabaiba, whose presidential council is headed by Muhammad al-Manfi, and assumed its duties on March 16, but Haftar's forces are accused of continuing the military build-up and violating the ceasefire agreement. .