Libyan rivals meet for UN-brokered face-to-face talks
The meeting is the first since the two parties agreed to a cease-fire last month.
On the heels of a landmark cease-fire agreement, military delegations from Libya’s two warring parties sat down Monday for rare face-to-face talks inside the war-torn country.
The talks, scheduled for Nov. 2-4, are aimed at implementing a cease-fire reached last month between the internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) and Gen. Khalifa Hifter’s self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA). The truce, which the United Nations has described as a historic turning point in the war, calls for foreign fighters and mercenaries to leave Libyan territory within the next three months.
The UN Security Council ratified the cease-fire last week, calling on “the Libyan parties to abide by their commitments” and fully implement the agreement.
The North African country descended into chaos amid a 2011 uprising that overthrew and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi. The country is now ruled by two administrations whose rivalry has become a full-blown proxy war.
