Libya Rivals Sign Ceasefire Deal, All Foreign Fighters to ‘Quit Within Three Months’

Libya’s warring factions signed a permanent ceasefire agreement on Friday, after five days of talks in Geneva.

The UN, which brokered the deal said the ceasefire would start immediately and all foreign fighters must quit Libya within three months.

Forces would withdraw from front lines and a new joint police force would secure those areas.

 Libya envoy Stephanie Williams called the agreement “a crucial sign of hope for the Libyan people and “a moment that will go down in history.”

“You have met for the sake of Libya, for your people in order to take concrete steps to put an end to their suffering,” she said at the signing ceremony.

“Today is a good day for the Libyan people,” she said. “At 11.15 a.m. this morning, here in the UN headquarters in Geneva, the two Libyan delegations to the 5+5 Joint Military Commission Talks signed a complete, countrywide and permanent ceasefire agreement with immediate effect.

“The ceasefire also responds to the Secretary-General’s call for a global ceasefire and cessation of hostilities related to the COVID pandemic.”

The agreement comes after the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) in June beat back Khalifa Haftar’s eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) from its 14-month assault on the capital.

But any lasting end to years of chaos and bloodshed will require wider agreement among myriad armed groups and the outside powers that support them.

The country was plunged into chaos after the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

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