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Situation in Libya

Lavrov says Berlin conference decisions on Libya stuck in the mud

The top diplomat stressed that Russia remains in favor of an early launch of a political dialogue between the parties in Libya and the appointment of a new UN special envoy on the Libyan settlement

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Russian Foreign Ministry/TASS

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov

© Russian Foreign Ministry/TASS

MOSCOW, April 21./TASS/. The decisions made at January’s conference on Libya aimed at launching a political process, are stuck in the mud, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a video conference with the Alexander Gorchakov Public Diplomacy Fund’s delegates on Tuesday.

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"Implementing the decisions taken at the Berlin conference has come to a standstill at the moment. War has resurfaced," the top diplomat said. He noted that at the Berlin conference on Libya, Russia sought to have the decisions coordinated by the delegates approved by the parties later on.

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He reiterated that it was Russia that had secured the participation of representatives from the Government of National Accord and the Libyan National Army at that conference. "Regretfully, we didn’t get a direct answer to this question [whether the parties will support the decision — TASS] during the negotiations in Berlin. That is why, we supported those ideas that were formulated in Berlin, but the parties in question must be persuaded into approving those approaches. We were right once again," Lavrov went on to say.

He also stressed that Russia remains in favor of an early launch of a political dialogue between the parties in Libya and the appointment of a new UN special envoy on the Libyan settlement.

Libya in crisis

Currently, Libya has two supreme executive authorities, namely the internationally-recognized Tripoli-based Government of National Accord headed by Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, and the interim government of Abdullah al-Thani, seated in the east of the country, along with the elected parliament, which is supported by the Libyan National Army led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar.

Despite the ceasefire that has been in effect since January 12 and the international community’s attempts to push the conflicting parties towards a peace settlement, the armed conflict continues to rage, with both sides accusing one another of violating the ceasefire.

On January 19, 2020, Berlin hosted an international conference on settling the Libyan crisis that suggested a set of measures to launch a dialogue between al-Sarraj and Haftar. However, they themselves were not among the signatories of the final document.

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