BRUSSELS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th January, 2020) The situation in Libya has worsened but the upcoming conference in Berlin on the Libyan conflict leaves hope that it might improve, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said on Tuesday.
"Things in Libya have gone from bad to worse. Perhaps, in the coming days we will have some small hope," Borrell said at a plenary session of the European Parliament on the situation in Libya.
According to the EU top diplomat, the conference in Berlin might pave the way for "the consolidation of the ceasefire, de-escalation and return to political negotiations."
He said the next step after ceasefire will be to monitor it and control the consistency of arms embargo.
At the same time, Borrell refrained from giving any assurances of breakthrough in Berlin since, as he said, expectations were also high in the European Union that the talks in Moscow would bring about results.
He said despite common concern that the situation in Libya is getting out of control, "I cannot ensure you that the ceasefire will take place and the Berlin conference will take place next Sunday."
Since 2011 Libya has been marred in a civil war between two rival administrations: the internationally-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) under Fayez Sarraj and the Libyan National Army (LNA) led by Khalifa Haftar. Over the past several weeks, the situation has escalated amid LNA's advances on GNA-held Libyan capital of Tripoli.
Russia and Turkey have negotiated a ceasefire in Libya starting midnight January 12 and mediated talks between Sarraj and Haftar in Moscow on Monday. The meeting, however, failed to result in an official ceasefire agreement. The army reaffirmed readiness to continue its offensive on Tripoli, which has already experienced being a battleground of a similar devastating attack last April.
On Sunday, Berlin will host a UN-led conference on Libya with the participation of Egypt, Russia, the United States, Turkey and EU nations. Both Sarraj and Haftar are expected to attend.
