GENEVA: The UN envoy to Libya said on Tuesday there was a “genuine will to start negotiating” between rival military factions as they planned to meet for the first time for talks in Geneva aimed at securing a lasting ceasefire. The talks bring together five senior military officers from Haftar’s Libyan National Army and five from forces aligned with the internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli. Talks between the two sides, who did not meet face-to-face in Geneva on Monday, were aiming “to bridge the gaps in their views on how the lasting, sustainable ceasefire can be organized on the ground,” Salame said. Haftar’s offensive, which upended a previous UN peace plan, deepened the gulf between loose alliances that have competed for power from western and eastern Libya since 2014. The GNA was set up in 2016 from a previous UN peace push that Haftar and his backers spurned.

Source: Pakistan Today February 04, 2020 10:52 UTC