Libya round-up: GNA's conditions must be met for a ceasefire, says Turkey's foreign minister

Photo: AA

Turkey and the UK are in agreement on a diplomatic solution in Libya, Turkey's Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said yesterday (July 8) during a visit to London.

He said Turkey thinks the only solution in the Libya conflict is a political one, adding: "We need to give pace to this political process under the roof of the UN."

His remarks came after meetings with his counterpart Dominic Raab and the UK's PM Boris Johnson.

The conditions of the Government of National Accord (GNA) in Libya must be met for a ceasefire in Libya and it needs to be a permanent ceasefire, Çavuşoğlu noted.

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Libya has been torn by civil war since the ouster of late ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The country's new government was founded in 2015 under a UN-led agreement, but efforts for a long-term political settlement failed.

The UN recognizes the GNA headed by Fayez al-Sarraj as the country's legitimate authority as it battles Khalifa Haftar's Libyan National Army (LNA).

The GNA launched the "Operation Peace Storm" in March to counter Haftar's attacks on the capital Tripoli, and recently captured several locations, including Tarhuna, Haftar's final stronghold in western Libya.

"Foreign interference has reached unprecedented levels"

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned the Security Council that the conflict in Libya has entered a new phase "with foreign interference reaching unprecedented levels."

"The conflict has entered a new phase with foreign interference reaching unprecedented levels, including in the delivery of sophisticated equipment and the number of mercenaries involved in the fighting," Guterres said on Wednesday.

"The United Nations will continue working with the parties to reach a ceasefire and resume a political process," he added.

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"We continue to oppose all foreign military intervention in Libya," said US Ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft.

"There is no place for foreign mercenaries or proxy forces in Libya, including ... Russian government proxies."

Russia's UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia rejected the accusations of Russian involvement in Libya.

"But we know about other countries' military personnel, including from those countries that accuse us, to be present on Libyan soil, East and West," he told the council, calling on all states with influence on the Libyan parties to push for a truce.

United Arab Emirates minister for foreign affairs, Anwar Gargash, told the council there were "roughly 10,000 Syrian mercenaries operating in Libya, approximately twice as many as there were six months ago."

Russia-based private military contractor Wagner Group has up to 1,200 people deployed in Libya, strengthening Haftar's militia, according to a confidential May report by independent sanctions monitors to the UN Security Council Libya sanctions committee.

The warring parties are currently mobilizing at the new front lines between the cities of Misrata and Sirte. Egypt has said advances by Libya's UN-recognised unity government to retake Sirte could prompt Egyptian military intervention.

"We are very concerned about the alarming military build-up around the city, and the high-level of direct foreign interference in the conflict in violation of the UN arms embargo, UN Security Council resolutions, and commitments made by the Member States in Berlin," Guterres said.

Lavrov: Russia and Turkey are working together

Russia and Turkey will continue joint efforts on finding a solution to the Libyan crisis, Russia's Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov said yesterday.

The two countries are seeking an approach that would allow for an immediate cease-fire in Libya, the minister said, speaking at a news conference in Moscow.

"Within the dialogue, sanctioned at the highest level by the presidents of Russia and Turkey, we have been working on finding approaches that would allow us to immediately declare a cease-fire and start resolving all other issues," he said.

He said the first essential step toward a solution is to declare "a complete cessation of hostilities".

"Our Turkish colleagues are working in this direction with the Government of National Accord, and I hope that they will be able to achieve the only correct solution in the current conditions," he added.

Lavrov called on the warring sides to refrain from betting on a military solution.

The appointment of a permanent special envoy would contribute to easing tensions, the minister said but argued that the US hinders it, vetoing candidates suggested by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

He also stressed that the new UN special envoy for Libya must be a representative of the African Union.

"History of foreign interference is repeating itself"

Turkey is working to establish stability in the region, including through supporting Libya's legitimate government, as Turkey's security is directly connected to its neighbors' security and to issues in the Mediterranean, according to presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalın.

"When it comes to Turkey's security, this is also about the security of Iraq, the security of Iran, as well as of all our neighbors and the issues in the Mediterranean," Kalın told Anadolu Agency, explaining how in our era national security cannot be provided just within national borders, as security is a global issue.

"Libya is our maritime neighbor across the Mediterranean," Kalın said, also highlighting how Turkey's geographical location extends to Central Asia, from the Middle East to North Africa and the Caucasus.

"The tiniest crisis, tension, clash, or war in these regions will directly affect Turkey's security," he said.

"Of course, we never want Libya to become a war zone for militias and foreign mercenaries," he said, adding that for a political solution, those military solutions should "certainly" be left aside.

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"But when we look at what international actors have unfortunately done in Syria, we see that a similar scene is slowly emerging in Libya," he warned.

Kalın said the Syrian war – now in its 11th year – is the bloodiest one in recent history, and the international actors there exacerbated the crisis as they acted for their own interests rather than the Syrian people's or Syria's territorial integrity and political unity.

"Now, if the priority in Libya is defined as the peace, tranquility, and security of the Libyan people, if a political solution on the basis of Libya's natural resources, political unity, and territorial integrity is sought, these issues can be resolved," Kalın said.

He also warned of "destructive results" if parties in the country adopt an approach like "Let's divide Libya from here, let's take this part for us and give that part to them."

He said recent decades had seen efforts to split Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon into two or three due to their ethnic and sectarian structures, and the wounds caused by those efforts have yet to heal. (VK)