Turkey and Qatar have reiterated their support for Libya’s internationally recognized government during a trip by their defense presidents to the capital Tripoli, where the German foreign minister also paid an unexpected visit.
Ankara has provided crucial military support to the United Nations National Accord (GNA) government to help prevent a 14-month attack by rival troops based in eastern Libya.
The country has been divided between factions based in the east and west since 2014, and regional powers have aligned themselves with the competing sides.
While Turkey and its regional ally Qatar support the GNA, forces in the east led by renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar have received support from the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Russia.
“We believe we will achieve the desired results by supporting our Libyan brothers in their just cause,” said Hulusi Akar. Turkish Defense Minister said in Tripoli on Monday.
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At the end of last year, Turkey signed a military agreement with the GNA, as well as a memorandum of understanding on maritime borders, which rattled its rivals in the eastern Mediterranean.
Akar and Chief of Staff General Yasar Guler were in Tripoli to “observe the operations” under the military cooperation agreement with Libya, according to Turkey’s Ministry of Defense.
Turkey and Russia have emerged as the main power brokers in Libya’s conflict, with military fronts taking control of the central coastal city of Sirte in recent weeks. The leaders of the two countries spoke by telephone about Libya on Monday.
Earlier attempts to secure a ceasefire and a political deal in Libya – including at an international conference in the German capital, Berlin, in January – have been halted. An oil blockade imposed by Haftar’s troops has cost the country billions of dollars in revenue losses.
‘Misleading calm’
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, who met with his Libyan counterpart but not with the Turkish or Qatari delegations, said the trial began in Berlin and remained a framework for resolving the conflict, and supported a call for a demilitarized zone around Sirte.
“We are currently seeing a deceptive calm in Libya. Both sides and their international allies continue to occupy the country on a massive scale and adhere to conditions for a ceasefire,” he said.
Maas stressed the need to start direct talks between the two parties and stop the escalation at Sirte, the site of recent military confrontations.
Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and Chief of Staff General Yasar Guler were in Tripoli on Monday to “observe the operations” under the military cooperation agreement with Libya [Anadolu]
He also called for the lifting of the oil blockade and the equal distribution of the great oil wealth of the war-torn country.
For his part, Libyan Foreign Minister Mohamed Taher Siala said his country no longer needed initiatives to resolve the conflict, but a constitution that would pave the way for democratic elections.
Siala added that the GNA strongly rejected Operation Irini, a European Union mission aimed at enforcing a 2011 UN toothless arms embargo. “does not control the transfer of weapons and butchers to the aggressor”.
Maas arrives after the trip to Abu Dhabi later in the day to meet his opponent there to urge him to use the UAE’s influence with Haftar “in line with the Berlin Summit”.
SOURCE:
Al Jazeera and news agencies
.
