Libya’s Neighbors Urge UN to Impose Arms Embargo

Arab World

January 24th, 7:13am

Algiers - Boualem Goumrassa

Foreign Ministers and officials from countries neighboring Libya pose for a family photo during a meeting to discuss the conflict in Libya, in Algiers Algeria January 23, 2020. (Reuters)

Libya’s neighbors urged on Thursday the United Nations to impose an arms embargo against the country. During a one-day meeting in Algeria, they stressed that the solution to the conflict should be political and reached among the Libyan people themselves. The meeting brought together foreign ministers from Egypt, Sudan, Chad, Niger, Algeria, Tunisia and Mali. All of the nations but Mali border Libya, and all have suffered fallout from the fighting between the Libyan National Army and Tripoli-based Government of National Accord. Algerian Foreign Minister Sabri Boukadoum said: “The gatherers agreed on the need to respect Libya’s sovereignty as a state and accept the legitimacy of authorities that are accepted by the Libyan people.” They stressed the need for involving the African Union in supporting the political solution, he told a press conference after the meeting. They also rejected foreign interference in Libya as demonstrated in the deployment of illegitimate forces on its territories. The foreign meddling has led to the deterioration of the crisis, Boukadoum said. “We will not hold dialogue with the party that support violence,” he declared. Observers were skeptical about the success of Thursday’s meeting, citing the failure to invite LNA and GNA representatives to the talks. They instead said the meeting was aimed at removing the Libyan crisis from the control of foreign forces and placing it in the hands of regional countries that are directly affected by the conflict. World powers are pushing the rival parties to respect a tentative truce. “Libya has been in turmoil. The conflict there has increasingly turned into a proxy war by foreign powers that are far away and much less affected by what is happening," said German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, who also took part in the meeting. Maas, whose country hosted a Libya peace summit on Sunday, said much of the fallout from the conflict, including organized crime, terrorism, smuggling of weapons and humans and flows of refugees, has been borne by Libya's neighbors. “It is therefore the neighbors that have the most interest in peace and stability in Libya,” he said. The minister said international actors must maintain “persistent pressure” on the warring parties to turn the temporary truce into a stable ceasefire. Maas said the Berlin summit managed to win support from “key actors” for efforts to end the proxy conflict. He said Germany would support efforts by the UN to shore up the tentative truce through a meeting between representatives of the LNA and GNA. “For this the persistent pressure of all international partners on the conflict parties is required,” Maas said. Basic questions about a concrete political process remain unresolved. The Tunisian president’s office said Maas also stopped in Tunis and told President Kaïs Saied that Germany regretted not inviting Tunisia in time for a representative to attend the Sunday summit and wants to involve Tunisia in Libya peace efforts going forward.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2097281/libya%E2%80%99s-neighbors-urge-un-impose-arms-embargo