By Sami Zaptia.
London, 10 August 2019:
Libya’s internationally recognized Tripoli-based government, led by Faiez Serraj, announced late last night that it is willing to agree to a four-point conditional truce over the Eid Al-Adha (feast of sacrifice) holiday which started today and ends on Tuesday in western Libya.
At the time of publication there had been no official response from the Tobruk based House of Representatives and Khalifa Hafter the commander of their Libyan National Army (LNA).
The Tripoli Presidency Council and Government of National Accord said it was agreeing to this ‘‘limited humanitarian truce’’ in response to humanitarian needs and the request by UNSMIL.
Tripoli’s first condition is that the truce must include all areas of fighting and all direct and indirect firing must cease and there must be no forward movement made from current positions on the ground.
Secondly, all flight activity and observation flights in all skies and from all air bases must be prohibited.
Thirdly, the truce must not be used as cover to move or mobilize troops.
And finally, UNSMIL must guarantee the implementation of the truce and monitor any transgressions of the truce.
It will be recalled that UNSMIL has called on numerous occasions over the last few days for a truce over the religious and holy Eid Al-Adha period.
