WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd May, 2019) Tunis wants to see disparate forces in Libya come together and bring an end to the civil war, Tunisia Defense Minister Abdelkrim Zbidi told guests at the US Institute of Peace.
"We have tried everything to find a sustainable fair solution so that they can all agree, all the warring factions. Maybe organize democratic elections, at least to start a process and from that maybe a government can be set up to unify the military and the security forces and also take care of the militias because the militias have to be integrated," Zbidi said on Wednesday.
Zbidi applauded Libyan National Army (LNA) Khalifa Hafta for ridding Benghazi of terrorists linked to the al-Qaeda terrorist group (banned in Russia) in a 2015-16 offensive.
Earlier in April, Haftar ordered his LNA to retake Tripoli from Government of National Accord (GNA)-backed forces. The LNA has already recaptured a number of settlements on its way to the capital, including the Tripoli International Airport, located around 20 miles away from the capital.
Since the overthrow and killing of longtime Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 by US-backed Islamists, the country has been divided between two governments, with the eastern part controlled by the LNA-backed Tobruk-based parliament, and the western part governed by the UN-backed GNA.
