The European Union should take part in the international monitoring of the ceasefire in Libya once it is in place and a decision on the monitoring is made at the level of the United Nations and the Berlin process players, Italian lawmaker Marco Minniti told Sputnik in an interview
GENOA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th February, 2020) The European Union should take part in the international monitoring of the ceasefire in Libya once it is in place and a decision on the monitoring is made at the level of the United Nations and the Berlin process players, Italian lawmaker Marco Minniti told Sputnik in an interview.
Last week, Libya's Joint Military Commission, which was established at the Berlin conference and includes representatives of both the UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) and the Libyan National Army (LNA), held the first meeting under UN auspices in Geneva. Following the week-long talks, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General in Libya Ghassan Salame said that both parties had expressed the will to move from a temporary truce to a lasting ceasefire, but the details of such a transition needed further discussion. The UN envoy also said that the Joint Military Commission would be involved in the monitoring of the ceasefire under the auspices of the United Nations Mission in Libya and that it was acceptable to both sides.
"First of all, we need to have a ceasefire in place, which is not yet the case. The truce is very fragile and systematically violated. We do not know how long the truce will last. Of course, if there is an agreement between the United Nations and the Berlin process players on the fact that a peacekeeping force is needed, I think that the European Union, namely the Mediterranean countries, should not and cannot stay outside of this commitment. But there need to be basic conditions that are currently lacking," said Minniti, who used to serve as an adviser to prime ministers, has long-time experience in coordinating the secret services and is considered to be among the most prominent Italian politicians dealing with the Libyan issue.
The lawmaker also noted the importance of the military commission's meeting as the warring parties had an opportunity to talk and come to a consensus, expressing "a common will to turn a very fragile truce into a lasting ceasefire."
The idea of the EU's involvement in the peace process was voiced in late January when the bloc's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said after a foreign ministers' meeting that the EU would refocus its naval mission in the Mediterranean, Operation Sophia, to monitor and ensure the implementation of the UN arms embargo against Libya. During its next meeting on February 17, the EU Foreign Affairs Council is expected to consider options for monitoring the ceasefire in Libya.
