23.02.2020, Tobruk.
The countries participating in the Berlin Conference and the UN Security Council should take responsibility for stopping Turkey’s intervention in the civil war in Libya, said Libyan National Army (LNA) Commander Khalifa Haftar on February 22, Sputnik Arabic reported.
“The UN, the Security Council and the Berlin Conference participants should take the responsibility for stopping the flow of Syrian and Turkish mercenaries and various sort of weapons that are being transported on a daily basis to Tripoli via Turkey,” Haftar said.
The LNA will take its own actions if international community doesn’t succeed in securing the ceasefire conditions achieved at the Berlin Conference, Haftar stressed. Peace cannot be achieved in Libya until the issue of “Turkish occupation” is resolved, said the LNA commander.
On January 19, Berlin hosted an international conference where the parties of the civil war in Libya reached a ceasefire agreement.
Background
On February 15, 2011, mass riots erupted in the Libyan city of Benghazi during the so-called Arab Spring rapidly developing into a civil war in the country.
The President of Libya, Muammar al-Gaddafi, was assassinated on October 20.
The main stage of the war ended on October 23. The death toll during the civil war exceeded 50,000 people. The official power in Libya was finally transferred to the National Transitional Council of Libya (TNC) formed by the opposition.
The overthrow of Gaddafi did not lead to peace in Libya. The civil war continued permanently, the country was torn apart in the conflicts between various warring groups of Islamists and tribes.
On July 7, 2012, elections to the Libyan parliament, the General National Congress, were held.
On February 14, 2014, General Khalifa Haftar announced the resignation of the Libyan Government and the dissolution of the General National Congress.
On May 16, Haftar announced a military operation against Islamists in Benghazi. And a new large-scale civil war begins in Libya.
On June 25, elections to a new Libyan parliament, the House of Representatives of Libya, were held. The parliament is moving to the north-east of the country to the city of Tobruk.
On November 6, the Supreme Court of Libya, located in Tripoli, declared the parliamentary elections invalid and announced the dissolution of the Libyan House of Representatives. Parliamentarians do not recognize the court’s decision.
On March 2, 2015, the Libyan House of Representatives in Tobruk decides to appoint Khalifa Haftar as Supreme Commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA). The Libyan National Transitional Council in Tripoli does not recognize the decision of Parliament and declares Haftar a war criminal.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
