More countries back Libya truce call

DOHA/ALGIERS－Qatar on Thursday voiced support for calls by Turkey and Russia for a ceasefire to take effect in Libya at midnight on Sunday, the Qatari Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Qatar said it also welcomed the acceptance of the calls by the United Nations-recognized Libyan Government of National Accord, or GNA, in Tripoli.

The Qatari Foreign Ministry said in the statement that it hopes all factions in the Libyan crisis, as well as the regional and international actors, will support this initiative.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, following a meeting in Istanbul on Wednesday, called on the warring factions in Libya to agree for a cease-fire to come in at midnight on Sunday.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, at a joint news conference with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Istanbul on Wednesday, said he wished the sought-for cease-fire would encourage the so-called Berlin process, a diplomatic effort aimed at bringing an end to the conflict in war-torn Libya.

Algerian Foreign Minister Sabri Boukadoum on Thursday said Algiers and Rome were in agreement on the necessity of a truce to be reached in Libya.

Coordination between Algeria and Italy on Libya is "very good", Boukadoum told a news conference attended by his Italian counterpart Luigi Di Maio in Algiers, APS News Agency reported.

He said that "a political solution is the most appropriate for Libya".

Di Maio said that the political leaders in Turkey, Egypt, Belgium and Algeria－countries he has visited in Rome's diplomatic push on Libya－"agree on the necessity of reaching a peaceful solution and a cease-fire in Libya".

He said that "everyone agrees on the need to reach a solution that guarantees stability in the region".

Algeria, which shares a 1,000 kilometer border with Libya, fears the fallout of any potential proxy war in Libya between influential international powers.

With Algeria's concerns for its national security, it has deployed thousands of its troops to the border with Libya.

Nation mired in civil war

Libya has been mired in civil war since the fall of longtime leader Muammar Gadhafi's government in 2011.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian on Thursday said a resolution of the crisis in Libya is a real priority for France and the Middle East region. He was visiting Tunisia when he made the comment.

He criticized the recently signed agreements between Libya's United Nations-recognized government and Turkey, noting it could further destabilize the situation in Libya and the region as a whole.

"France, like Tunisia, supports the efforts of the UN Special Envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame to consolidate the international consensus at the Berlin conference soon to find solutions to the Libyan crisis," Le Drian said.

Germany has been trying to hold an international conference on Libya, bringing together all the countries with a stake in the Libyan crisis in a bid for a political solution.

No date has been set for the conference, which has been envisaged for Berlin. The conference has been hit by delays due to the differences among the would-be participants.

Libya is governed by dueling authorities in the east and in the west. The east-based government, backed by General Khalifa Haftar's forces, is supported by the Gulf countries and Egypt, as well as France and Russia. The western, Tripoli-based government receives aid from Turkey, Qatar and Italy.

In recent weeks, the fighting has intensified around Tripoli with a vow by Erdogan to send Turkish troops to back the GNA, headed by Fayez al-Serraj. Turkey's Parliament authorized the deployment last week. Turkey has already begun sending its soldiers to Libya, for training and coordination roles.

Ahmed al-Mosmari, spokesman for the Libyan Arab Armed Forces, one of the militia groups in the east, said in a video statement on Thursday that forces in eastern Libya will still try to take control of Tripoli from "terrorist groups". The east-based forces have been waging an offensive to try to take the city for months.