UN chief Guterres: Libya’s future is at stake

Libya’s future “is at stake” and world powers and those with interests in its long-running civil war should stop sending arms to the country’s rival governments and keep working towards a lasting ceasefire, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said. Guterres implored those at a virtual ministerial meeting on Monday, co-hosted by the UN and Germany, to support peace efforts “not only in words but in actions”, including immediately backing a widely violated UN arms embargo against Libya. “The violations of the embargo are a scandal and call into question the basic commitment to peace of all involved,” he said. “Foreign deliveries of weapons and other military support must stop immediately.” Germany, which has been trying to act as an intermediary, said the virtual meeting was a chance to review what has been achieved since Berlin hosted a summit on Libya in January at which participants from both sides agreed to respect an arms embargo and push Libya’s warring parties to reach a full ceasefire. That agreement has been repeatedly violated. A summary of the ministerial meeting by the co-chairs said participants reaffirmed their commitment to the conclusions of the Berlin conference, strongly welcomed the planned resumption of talks between the rival Libyan parties, and “stressed the need to immediately stop foreign intervention in Libya”. “There was broad agreement that repeated violations of the United Nations arms embargo had to stop immediately,” the co-chairs said. style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; top: 0; bottom: 0; right: 0; left: 0;">