Libyan rivals are set to meet in Moscow to sign a ceasefire agreement with the help of various world leaders. After a nine-month campaign to seize Tripoli, Libya's General Khalifa Haftar has stepped back by accepting the ceasefire and looking for more diplomatic measures to reduce the tension in the country.
Begining in 2011, the civil war escalated in the year 2014. The present ceasefire agreement is coming into place after Russia and Turkey pressurized Haftar and the UN-backed Government of National Accord to come into terms with one another with the ceasefire. Both sides accused each other of breaking the agreement soon after it had come into place on Sunday.
De-escalation to be attempted in Moscow
The Libyan renegade arrived in Moscow to meet the GNA Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, who is set to arrive today. On Wednesday, Turkish Prime Minister, Tayyip Erdogan, and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, called on the rival Libyan parties to reduce the tension in the African country.
Putin and Erdogan met in Istanbul last week and had asked for the ceasefire from the Libyans then. Soon after the regulation was set on January 12 GNA said that the military violated the agreement in two places in southern Tripoli Salah Addin and Wadi al-Rabee. The military had said that they would follow the conditional agreement if GNA abides by it.
Alleged violation of the ceasefire
According to the LNA commander, the GNA had violated the agreement within minutes of it coming into place, with the "militias breaching the truce in several areas with all kinds of weapons". Reports also suggested that there was an exchange of fire even on Sunday despite the conditional agreement coming into place.
Russian mercenaries support the Haftar led Libya, while Turkey supports the GNA. The meeting between Russia and Turkey happened after the leaders from the two countries agreed that there was a need to address the rising tension in the region, and between the two countries, because of the deployment of mercenaries in the country.
