The United Nations Support Mission on Thursday announced the warring sides in Libya have resumed talks in Geneva aimed at brokering a lasting ceasefire in the country, reported Al Jazeera.
“The talks are underway again,” Jean El-Alam, spokesman for UNSMIL, told Agence France Presse.
UN Libya envoy Ghassan Salame launched a second round of negotiation talks with five senior officers from Libya’s Government of National Accord (GNA) and five negotiators representing renegade eastern military commander Khalifa Haftar’s forces.
The meeting followed the first round of talks held earlier this month that ended without a deal to reach a ceasefire. But Salame was hopeful that the two sides would reach a deal this time, mainly because of the approval of a UN Security Council resolution calling for a “lasting ceasefire”.
Tuesday’s negotiation talks in Geneva came to a halt after the internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) opted out of the talks over the continued shelling by self-proclaimed Libyan National Army (LNA). The eastern military commander Haftar’s forces attacked Tripoli’s seaport as they targeted a Turkish vessel bringing in arms. Three civilians were killed and five injured in two missile attacks on the Port of Tripoli.
The port strikes in Libya were the latest violation of a ceasefire truce that came into effect in January and was brokered by Russia, which supports Haftar, and Turkey, which supports the UN-recognised government in Tripoli.
Several rounds of talks focused on economic issues have also taken place in Egypt and Tunisia, while talks towards a political solution are scheduled to start in Geneva on February 26.
Haftar launched his offensive on Libya capital, Tripoli, last April but after rapid advances, his forces stalled on the edges of the capital. The fighting has left over 1,000 people dead and displaced more than 140,000, according to the United Nations.
In related news, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met Fayez al Sarraj, head of Libya’s UN-recognized GNA in Dolmabahce Palace, Istanbul, on Thursday. The leaders held a closed-door meeting.
