The UN Security Council on Tuesday ratified the ceasefire hammered out between Libya’s warring parties on October 23, calling on both sides to “implement the agreement in full,” diplomats said.
The declaration is to be followed up soon by a UN resolution, diplomatic sources said.
“The members of the Security Council welcomed the permanent ceasefire agreement” signed in Geneva under the aegis of the UN, and called on “the Libyan parties to abide by their commitments.”
The Security Council also called on the two sides “to show the same determination in reaching a political solution” when they meet to discuss the issue further on November 9 in Tunisia, the declaration added.
It also cited the need for countries and parties to respect the arms embargo slapped on Libya in 2011 and to end any outside intervention in the country’s internal affairs.
The warring factions in Libya signed a ceasefire accord last Friday, effective immediately, after five days of talks in Geneva facilitated by the United Nations, which called the agreement a “turning point” for the war-ravaged North African country.
Libya descended into revolution and a complex civil war after the overthrow of the longtime strongman Moamer Kadhafi in 2011, eventually being split between two main factions — the National Unity Government in Tripoli, backed by Turkey and Qatar, and the forces of military strongman Khalifa Haftar in the east of the country, backed by the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Russia.