After progress in the file of resolving the Libyan crisis politically during the past week, the parties to the Libyan military conflict, today, Sunday, took steps in the same direction.
In the presence of the envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations and head of its support mission to Libya, Abdullah Batili, members of the Libyan Joint Military Committee (5 + 5) met in the city of Sirte today to complete their path of consensus towards a unified military institution within the military track to resolve the Libyan crisis.
The details of the meeting held in the city of Sirte today were announced by a statement issued by the Director of the Moral Guidance Department of the Libyan Army, Major General Khaled Al-Mahjoub, and Al-Ain News received a copy of it.
The leader of the Libyan army, Major General Al-Mahjoub, said, “The most important items were discussing the completion of the ceasefire clauses, discussing the work of international and local observers, and discussing what happened in unifying the military establishment.”
He added, “The meeting also discussed confirming the committee’s demands for the removal of mercenaries and foreign forces from the country, the international position, and the request of the relevant parties to support the implementation of the Geneva Convention with all its provisions, as they constitute the demands of the Libyans.”
In addition, an official from the Libyan army told Al-Ain News that “the meeting today also discussed the exchange of prisoners between the two parties,” stressing that “the meeting was attended by the Libyan ceasefire observers and their international counterparts.”
He added that the meetings will continue until Monday, after which a joint statement will be issued on the Joint Military Committee.
The Libyan Joint Military Committee (5 + 5) is formed according to an international initiative of five military personnel representing the Libyan army in the east of the country and their counterparts in the military establishment in the west. They are conducting discussions within the security track to resolve the Libyan crisis.
Those talks, which began after the members of the committee representing the parties to the military conflict signed the cease-fire agreement in Geneva two years ago, aimed at seeking to implement the provisions of that agreement, including the removal of mercenaries and foreign fighters from the country, in addition to unifying the military institution.
And the Libyan military announced, on July 19, their agreement in principle to unify the military institution, and they discussed the mechanism for starting the unification of some military departments and agencies at a meeting held in Cairo, Egypt.
The military track, according to the outcomes of the Berlin Conference and the Cairo Declaration, is the most successful track for resolving the Libyan crisis, while the political track also achieved successes last week during talks between the parties to the conflict that were also held in Cairo.
Libya is witnessing a political division and conflict between two governments, the first is the government of Fathi Bashagha, appointed by the House of Representatives, and the second is for the national unity government headed by Abdul Hamid al-Dabaiba, who refuses to hand over power despite the end of his term and his dismissal by Parliament.