{"id":58337,"date":"2020-01-13T09:36:49","date_gmt":"2020-01-13T01:36:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=58337"},"modified":"2020-01-13T09:36:51","modified_gmt":"2020-01-13T01:36:51","slug":"both-sides-in-libya-conflict-accept-ceasefire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=58337","title":{"rendered":"Both sides in Libya conflict accept ceasefire"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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TRIPOLI, Jan 13 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Both sides in Libya\u2019s conflict agreed to a ceasefire that started early Sunday following weeks of international diplomacy and calls for a truce by power-brokers Russia and Turkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The oil-rich North African country has been wracked by bloody turmoil since a NATO-backed uprising killed long-time dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since April last year, the Tripoli-based, UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) has been under attack from forces loyal to eastern-based strongman Khalifa Haftar, which days ago advanced to take the strategic coastal city of Sirte.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Late Saturday Haftar forces announced a ceasefire starting at the stroke of midnight (Sunday 00:00 local time, Saturday 2200 GMT) in line with a joint call by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early Sunday the head of the GNA, Fayez al-Sarraj, also announced an agreement to the ceasefire, saying it had taken effect at the start of Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sarraj stressed the GNA\u2019s \u201clegitimate right \u2026 to respond to any attack or aggression\u201d that may come from the other side \u2014 just as Haftar forces had warned of a \u201csevere\u201d response to any violation by the \u201copposing camp\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Artillery fire could be heard shortly after midnight from the centre of the capital, before quiet settled over the southern Tripoli suburb where pro-GNA forces have been resisting Haftar\u2019s offensive launched April 4, 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erdogan and Putin had called for a ceasefire at a meeting on Wednesday in Istanbul, and Turkey on Saturday asked Russia to convince Haftar, who had initially vowed to fight on, to respect it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ankara deployed military support to the GNA in January, while Russia has been accused of supporting pro-Haftar forces, which are also backed by the United Arab Emirates and Egypt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Europe and North Africa have launched a diplomatic offensive to try to prevent Libya, with the increased involvement of international players in its conflict, from turning into a \u201csecond Syria\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

European governments are concerned that militants and migrant smugglers, already highly active in Libya, will take further advantage of the chaos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Saturday Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel met in Moscow and called for international efforts to address the crisis in Libya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Merkel, making her first visit to Russia since 2018, said she hoped \u201cthe Turkish-Russian efforts will be successful,\u201d calling a ceasefire a first step in a peace process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Putin and Merkel both backed a Libya peace conference in Berlin being organised by UN special envoy to Libya, Ghassan Salame, which could be held in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both Russia and Turkey have emerged as key players in Libya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Turkey has sent defence equipment and troops to support the UN-backed Tripoli government, Moscow is accused of backing mercenaries supporting Haftar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Putin on Saturday reiterated Moscow\u2019s denial of this, saying: \u201cif there are Russians there, they do not represent the interests of the Russian state and do not receive money from it.\u201d — NNN-AGENCIES
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TRIPOLI, Jan 13 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Both sides in Libya\u2019s conflict agreed to a ceasefire that started early Sunday following weeks of international diplomacy and calls for a truce by power-brokers Russia and Turkey. The oil-rich North African country has been wracked by bloody turmoil since a NATO-backed uprising killed long-time dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[213,209,217],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58337"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=58337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58337\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=58337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=58337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=58337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}