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Libya's GNA says joined ceasefire in country's West following LNA

Arab World Materials 12 January 2020 13:06 (UTC +04:00)
The Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) under Fayez Sarraj announced on Sunday that it had joined the ceasefire in western Libya
Libya's GNA says joined ceasefire in country's West following LNA

The Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) under Fayez Sarraj announced on Sunday that it had joined the ceasefire in western Libya on the heels of the rival Libyan National Army (LNA), Trend reports citing Sputnik.

"The presidential council's head [GNA] and commander-in-chief of the Libyan army [Fayez Sarraj] declares ceasefire that began at midnight of January 12," the GNA said in a statement on Facebook.
With that, the GNA stressed reserving "its lawful right to respond to any attack or aggression from the other side."

On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, agreed on a common stance on Libya and called for a comprehensive ceasefire starting midnight January 12. They also urged all conflict parties to begin negotiations.

The situation in Libya has escalated over the past several weeks as LNA commander Khalifa Haftar ordered his troops to advance on the Libyan capital of Tripoli, controlled by the UN-recognized GNA. The city has already experienced being a battleground of a similar attack in April when hundreds of people were left killed and thousands more injured.

After the ouster and assassination of then-Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, the country was plunged into a brutal civil war. Today, Libya is divided between two centers of power: an elected parliament in the country's east, and the UN-backed GNA in the west.

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