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UN hopes Moscow talks to help organize Berlin conference on Libya

International conference on Libyan reconciliation is to take place in the German capital on January 19

UN, January 14. /TASS/. The United Nations hopes that Libyan reconciliation talks in Moscow would become a step toward organizing an international conference on Libya in Berlin, the UN Secretary-General’s official spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, told reporters on Monday.

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According to earlier announcements, an international conference on Libyan reconciliation is to take place in the German capital on January 19.

"We're, obviously, following the developments in Moscow and are hopeful that these positive steps… that these are possible steps that will lead to the convening of the International Conference on Libya in Berlin, which is in line with the three steps that Mr. Salame [Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya Ghassan Salame] had outlined, and we continue to stress that all international efforts to support Libya should be complementary and in support of the Berlin process," he said during a daily briefing.

Prime Minister of the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) Fayez al-Sarraj and commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA) Khalifa Haftar took part in negotiations in Moscow that began on Monday under the aegis of the foreign and defense ministries of Russia and Turkey. According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the GNA delegation signed a draft deal on conflict settlement in the country, while Haftar has taken a pause until Tuesday morning to study the document.

Currently, Libya has two parallel bodies of executive power: the internationally recognized GNA and Abdullah al-Thani’s interim government operating in the country’s east together with parliament and supported by Haftar’s Libyan National Army. After a standoff near Tripoli since April 4, Haftar on December 12 declared the beginning of a decisive offensive to seize the capital.

A ceasefire took effect in Libya at midnight on January 12 between Libya’s conflicting parties within the framework of a joint initiative proposed by the Russian and Turkish presidents.

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