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By Sami Zaptia.
London, 25 April 2020:
A joint statement by EU High Representative Josep Borrell and the Foreign Ministers Jean-Yves Le Drian of France, Heiko Maas of Germany and Luigi Di Maio of Italy called for a Ramadan truce in Libya.
Fighting is ongoing between forces aligned to Khalifa Hafter and his Libyan National Army (LNA) and forces defending Tripoli aligned to the internationally recognized government based in Tripoli.
It will be recalled that there have been several other attempts since January to enforce a ceasefire, truce or pause – without success.
The statement said:
‘‘As participants to the Berlin process and in a renewed commitment to the Berlin conclusions, in this beginning of the Holy Month of Ramadan, we want to unite our voices to those of the UN Secretary-General Guterres and his Acting Special Representative for Libya, Stephanie Turco Williams, in their call for a humanitarian truce in Libya.
The conflict continues unabated and developments during the latest weeks have increased concerns, in particular over the situation among the long-suffering Libyan population. We call on all the Libyan actors to get inspired by the spirit of the Holy Ramadan, engage in resuming talks for a genuine ceasefire on the basis of the draft agreement of the Military Committee of 23 February, and in view of a political solution to the conflict, and unite their efforts to face the common enemy which the current pandemic risks represent in the interest of the whole country.
Ramadan kareem to all Libyans’’.
