World leaders agreed Sunday to respect an arms embargo and postpone military support to the two factions at a summit aimed at heading off “a true regional escalation” of fighting in Libya.Twelve world leaders as well as representatives from the United Nations, the European Union, the African Union, and the Arab League met in Berlin Sunday in hopes of laying a foundation for a lasting cease-fire between Libya’s rival governments.”We all agree that we should respect the arms embargo and that the arms embargo should be controlled more strongly than it has been in the past,” Chancellor Angela Merkel, the summit host, said Sunday, adding that participants have agreed on a “comprehensive plan forward,” according to the Associated Press.U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that a committee would be convened “in Geneva in the coming days.”Merkel said the summit participants agreed that they will give no further support to the warring parties in Libya ahead of the committee’s meeting and “cease operations as long as the cease-fire holds.”Guterres said the Berlin conference had succeed in fending off “the risk of a true regional escalation.”German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks with French President Emmanuel Macron during a group photo at a conference on Libya at the chancellery in Berlin, Jan. 19, 2020.Libya’s two main rival leaders, ex-general Khalifa Haftar and Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj, have been supported by Russia and Turkey respectively as the conflict has escalated over the past year.Turkey and Russia helped broker a fragile cease-fire in Libya that took effect last week, but both sides have accused the other of breaking it.During his opening remarks at the summit, Guterres said he believes there is no military solution to the conflict.”We reiterate our call to all those directly or indirectly involved in the conflict to do everything to support an effective cessation of hostilities and silence the guns.
Incessant, blatant violations of the Security Council-imposed arms embargo must stop,” Guterres said.Before the start of the summit, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo “emphasized the need for a lasting cease-fire, a return to a U.N.-facilitated political process, and the end of all foreign intervention in Libya,” spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said.Rival governments led by Haftar and Sarraj have been battling for control of Libya in the years since the 2011 ouster and killing of the country’s longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi. Haftar’s forces seized the key Mediterranean port city of Sirte earlier this month, but the fight for the capital, Tripoli, has been stalled since April with hundreds of thousands of civilians caught in the middle.Over 280 civilians and roughly 2,000 fighters have been killed and hundreds of thousands of Libyans displaced since the beginning of the offensive.
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