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Libyan agreement envisages UN control, freeze on deployment of Turkish forces — media

A Russian-Turkish meeting, devoted to the Libyan settlement, began in Moscow on Monday

CAIRO, January 13. /TASS/. The agreement on ceasefire in Libya, to be signed in Moscow on Monday, envisages the pullback of conflicting parties, a moratorium on the deployment of Turkish forces and international control of the observance of agreements, the television channel Al Arabiya quoted its sources as saying. The United Nations and Russia will be responsible for the observance of the ceasefire.

"The agreement envisages mutual and unconditional pullback of forces and a freeze on sending Turkish forces to Libya," the broadcaster reports. "The army will be responsible for the security of oil and gas fields."

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"The function of ceasefire control will be placed in the hands of Russia as a foreign party," which will be sending inspections to Libya for monitoring the situation. Also, according to the document the United Nations will undertake to control the enforcement of the agreement. Sea and land ports will remain under international observation.

The disarmament of some Libyan militias has been agreed on. The Libyan National Army and the Government of National Accord are to redistribute powers and tasks in running the country. The LNA will assume the "anti-terrorist" mission.

Meeting in Moscow

A Russian-Turkish meeting at the foreign and defense minister level, devoted to the Libyan settlement, began in Moscow on Monday. The Russian Foreign Ministry said the representatives of the Libyan factions have arrived in Moscow already and will join the talks soon.

A ceasefire between Fayez Sarraj’s Government of National Accord and Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army took effect at midnight on January 12 within the framework of the initiative Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan proposed on January 8. The head of Libya’s Supreme Council of State, Khaled Mishri, said the GNA and the LNA are to sign a ceasefire agreement in Moscow on Monday.

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

On January 2, the Turkish parliament supported a bill envisaging the possibility of sending Turkish forces to Libya in accordance with the memorandum on cooperation, including military cooperation, which Ankara and the Cabinet of Ministers in Tripoli signed at the end of November. On January 5, Erdogan declared the beginning of redeployment of troops, adding that their tasks were to carry out "coordination" and maintain "the security of the legitimate government." The Turkish troops will not be involved in combat operations.

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