WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th January, 2020) US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo hopes that the conference on Libyan settlement in Berlin will help at least reduce arms deliveries to Libya, as stipulated by the UN embargo.
"We talked a lot about the UN arms embargo and the fact that there are many nations that are violating that. There was lots of conversation about how it is we'll get these various participants who have been providing weapons systems that have been fueling this conflict, and the need to unwind that. I think we made progress, at least progress in getting fewer new weapons systems, fewer new forces to flow into the region, so that we can get at least a standstill [in hostilities]," Pompeo told reporters on Sunday, as quoted by the US State Department.
According to the secretary, this will allow to begin the process of political settlement, which all parties to the conference wanted.
Representatives from a number of countries and organizations, including Russia, the United States, Turkey, Egypt, the European Union, the United Nations and the African Union, have met in Berlin on Sunday to find solutions to the conflict in the North African country.
The Berlin conference was held after the intra-Libyan talks in Moscow with the participation of representatives of the Russia and Turkey. Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, the commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA), which controls the country's east, then left Moscow without signing a ceasefire agreement with the rival Government of National Accord (GNA), based in Tripoli and led by Fayez Sarraj.
Libya has been torn apart between the two rival administrations since 2011, when its long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown and killed.
