Libya’s eastern forces welcome calls for coronavirus truce

Benghazi, March 21, 2020 (dpa/NAN) Libya’s eastern forces, led by General Khalifa Haftar, welcomed on Saturday international calls for a humanitarian truce in the war-wracked country.

This week, the United Nations and several countries called for implementing a humanitarian truce in Libya to focus efforts on preventing the spread of the coronavirus.

Haftar’s self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) said it viewed “positively” the international efforts to re-establish peace in the country.

“The LNA command is committed to ceasing fight as long as other parties are committed to it in the framework of mutual commitment and in view of these difficult circumstances of the spread of the coronavirus epidemic,” it added in a statement.

No confirmed case of the virus has been reported in Libya, which is currently divided between two administrations: a UN-recognised government based in the capital Tripoli and the other based in the eastern city of Tobruk and allied with Haftar.

In January, a ceasefire called by Russia and Turkey went into effect in and around Tripoli, the target of a months-long campaign by rival forces led by Haftar. Rival sides have since traded blame on breaching the truce.

Libya has been in turmoil since the 2011 overthrow of dictator Muamar Gaddafi and has become a battleground for rival proxy forces, which has drawn in foreign powers.

Haftar already controls large areas in eastern and southern Libya. (dpa/NAN)

YEE

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Edited by Emmanuel Yashim