The participants in the Libya peace meeting in Berlin agreed on Sunday to respect a long-standing UN arms embargo, and agreed not to provide military support to any of the warring parties. A committee will also be formed to follow up this summit. That could be a step towards a ceasefire in Libya.
Both the Libyan Prime Minister Sarraj and warlord Haftar were present in the German capital. However, they have not spoken to each other. Chancellor Merkel said the rivals have promised to appoint ieder five members to a military committee that will begin talks about a permanent ceasefire. Merkel says no agreements have been made about the withdrawal of military support already granted.
That UN embargo has been around for many years, but in recent years it has been violated by almost iedereen. As a result, Libya has become a battlefield of several heavily armed militias. Neither have concrete agreements been made in Berlin for sanctions for parties who will again violate the arms embargo.
The Foreign Ministers of the EU are now meeting in Brussels to talk about the results of the Libya summit in Berlin. The German minister Heiko Maas and Spaniard Josep Borrell, present on behalf of the EU, will inform their European colleagues.
The UN, the EU and the countries involved in the conflict agreed on Sunday to end military support for the warring parties. Borrell may already make proposals on Monday about how the EU can help. Not only Libya has been torn apart by disputes, the other participants in the conference also support different parties in the conflict.
The main warring parties in the North African country are the militant warlord Khalifa Haftar and the leader of the weak UN-recognized Fayez al-Sarraj government in Tripoli. Haftar is the strong man in the east of the country, but his troops are now also threatening Tripoli in the west
Less than seven million people live in the oil-rich country. At the time, Europe helped bring down dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, but is now playing a supporting role in the country that is a springboard for migrants who want to cross the Mediterranean to EU.