Libya National Army General Haftar Leaves Moscow without Signing Ceasefire Agreement

Jan. 14, 2020 (EIRNS)—The coming together of the two warring sides in Libya in Moscow this past weekend was promising, but has not resulted, as yet, in the desired ceasefire. Both TASS and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov confirmed that Libya National Army (LNA) Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar has left Moscow without signing a ceasefire agreement. Lavrov said that Haftar had asked for a little extra time to look at the draft text. Governmet of National Accord (GNA) Foreign Minister Mohamed Siala of the Tripoli-based government said that “Haftar asked for a delay till tomorrow and may sign [the ceasefire agreement] at the insistence of Russians.” The GNA delegation has signed the draft. Later during the day, news wires reported that Haftar has asked for two days’ time.

According to TASS the ceasefire agreement will include pullback of the forces of the conflicting parties, and a moratorium on the deployment of Turkish forces. The United Nations and Russia will be responsible for the observance of the ceasefire.

Unconfirmed reports according to TASS indicate that while Russia will be responsible for monitoring the ceasefire, the United Nations will control the enforcement of the agreement. Sea and land ports will remain under international observation. The LNA and the GNA are to redistribute powers and tasks in running the country. The LNA will assume the “anti-terrorist” mission. Some of the militias will be disarmed.

The day had started with meetings between Russian and Turkish officials. After that, they met the two Libyan delegations separately.

Later on, following talks with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, Lavrov, who was visiting Colombo, had some words on how the Libya mess was initiated. “If Libya could become ‘a second Syria,’ I believe the Libyan people will benefit from this. Unfortunately, there is no statehood in Libya so far. The Libyan statehood was bombed by NATO in 2011, and we are still facing the consequences of this illegal, criminal escapade, the Libyan people first of all,” Lavrov was quoted as saying by Sputnik today.