Libyan eastern commander Khalifa Haftar, speaking on Wednesday with French President Emmanuel Macron, ruled out a ceasefire and said he wanted to rid the capital of militias that had “infested” the U.N.-backed government, a French presidential official said.
The flare-up in the conflict in Libya – which has been gripped by anarchy since Muammar Gaddafi was toppled in 2011 – began in early April, when Haftar’s Libyan National Army advanced on the capital Tripoli. The LNA is now bogged down in southern suburbs by fighters loyal to Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj’s Government of National Accord (GNA).
Macron and French officials have for weeks repeated their official support for the GNA and have called for an unconditional ceasefire. But some European countries, including France, have also supported Haftar as a way to fight Islamist militants in the country.
The battle for Tripoli has killed at least 510 people, forced 75,000 out of their homes, trapped thousands of migrants in detention centres, and flattened some southern suburbs. It has also forced closures of schools, split families on different sides of the front line, and brought power cuts.
REUTERS
