UN-backed Libyan rule rejects ceasefire

CAIRO — Libya’s UN-supported government on Thursday rejected a unilateral ceasefire declared by forces loyal to a rival, east-based administration that have been besieging the capital of Tripoli for the past year, citing the collapse of past agreements with the rivals.

Commander Khalifa Hifter’s east-based forces had announced a halt to hostilities for the Islamic holy month of Ramadan following appeals from the UN and the West to redirect resources toward efforts to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

The abrupt declaration by Hifter’s forces followed a series of military setbacks, leading the Tripoli government to suspect the announced ceasefire has more to do with the state of the battlefield than the fear of COVID-19.

Militias allied with the Tripolibased government have tilted the military balance this month, recapturing the country’s western coastline and ratcheting up their assault on Hifter’s stronghold of Tarhuna in western Libya.

The Tripoli-based presidential council blamed Hifter’s forces, the so-called Libyan Arab Armed Forces, for failed past attempts at a ceasefire, which have destroyed trust on the ground, accusing them of seizing on the pandemic to escalate the Tripoli siege. The council pledged to continue its “legitimate selfdefence, strike threats wherever they exist and stamp out illegal armed groups.”

The UN Mission in Libya on Thursday praised Hifter’s forces for the ceasefire gesture and urged both parties to turn it into an on-the-ground reality and to resume stalled U.N.-sponsored truce talks, even if virtually.

In recent weeks, Hifter’s forces have killed scores of civilians and bombed much-needed medical facilities, attacking two clinics this week alone.