UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres wants to send international observers to Libya to oversee the fragile ceasefire, in the hope of turning the page on 10 years of war.
In a letter addressed to the member states of the Security Council and consulted by AFP, Antonio Guterres calls for the constitution of an observation group that would include civilians, as well as retired soldiers from organizations like the African Union , the European Union, and the Arab League.
Read also: Libya: negotiations under the auspices of the UN have stalled
The warring parties, which agreed on a ceasefire on October 23 in Geneva both wish to avoid the presence of armed foreign troops, says the secretary general.
"I encourage member states and regional organizations to support the concretization of the ceasefire mechanism, in particular by providing international observers under the banner of the United Nations
," he said in this letter dated Tuesday.
The Secretary General also calls on all nations to respect the UN arms embargo in Libya, which has been clearly flouted.
Under the conditions of the ceasefire, all foreign forces must leave Libya within three months.
20,000 soldiers and mercenaries were still in the country in early December, according to UN envoy Stephanie Williams.
Marshal Khalifa Haftar, the strongman of eastern Libya has benefited from the support of Russia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia.
Khalifa Haftar obtained a truce after being repulsed by an offensive by troops from the Government of National Unity (GNA), recognized by the UN and strongly supported by Turkey.
The UN Secretary General's proposal provides that the observers initially operate in a triangular area of Libya, around Sirte, the hometown of former dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
Its overthrow in 2011, supported by Western countries, preceded a decade of unrest in Libya.
The observers would join the Libyan forces in supervising the ceasefire in the area, the withdrawal of foreign forces, and the removal of mines and other explosives.
They would then expand their area of action in the country if conditions permit, and until they can be replaced by a unified Libyan national force.
If the cease-fire signed in October has so far generally held, Marshal Haftar recently called on his forces to take up arms again to
"drive out the
Turkish
occupier"
, pushing Ankara to threaten reprisals.
/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/KMEYMJKESBAZBE4MRBAM4TGHIQ.jpg)
