Libya

[…] This paper examines recent developments in the conflict and analyses the positions and interests of the many non-European foreign states that have intervened in Libya. Focusing on attitudes towards Haftar, the paper explores various actors’ motives for, and modes of, intervention, as well as the impact of their activities on the country.

The head of the Libyan parliament aligned with eastern forces trying to seize the capital from the internationally-backed government said on Thursday there could be no peace talks until they had captured the city.

[…] In an interview with Al-Monitor, the foreign minister of the interim Libyan government, Abdul Hadi al-Hweij, spoke about the reasons behind his government’s support for the Libyan National Army (LNA) in the battle for Tripoli, the future scenario in case the LNA takes control of the capital and how to bring Libya back to the political dialogue table.

All countries must implement a UN arms embargo against Libya with illegal weapons transfers by land, sea and air fueling the current fighting in the oil-rich country, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said. Guterres made the appeal in a report circulated on Monday before the UN Security Council's unanimous approval of a resolution authorising the inspection of vessels on the high seas headed to or from Libya for another year to enforce the arms embargo.

The Commissioner for Peace and Security of the African Union, Sma?l Chergui said that the recent developments in Tripoli force us to reconsider the Libyan situation, which seems to be heading toward a real war, as he put it.

Libyan eastern commander Khalifa Haftar ruled out a ceasefire in the battle for Tripoli and accused the United Nations of seeking to partition Libya, according to an interview with French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche.

Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar’s march on Tripoli has ground to a halt in a war of attrition with the internationally recognised government’s forces on the city’s outskirts. The parties should conclude a ceasefire including Haftar’s partial withdrawal as a prelude to renewed UN peace talks.

Libyan eastern commander Khalifa Haftar told French President Emmanuel Macron that conditions for a cease-fire were not in place, although he would be ready to talk if those conditions were met, a French presidency official said. Macron and French officials have for several weeks called for an unconditional cease-fire in the battle for Tripoli after Haftar last month launched an offensive on the Libyan capital.

The damage done to Libya will already take “years to mend” but unless fighting around the capital Tripoli stops, the country risks “descending into a civil war which could lead to the permanent division of the country”.

All warring groups in Libya must commit to a ceasefire and return to U.N.-led mediation, the European Union said on Monday, calling the situation a threat to international security.