China calls for foreign fighters to be removed from Libya conflict

A Chinese envoy has appealed to Libya’s warlords to send home “external armed forces and mercenaries” from Libya as soon as possible, reports AP on October 10th.

Under the 2020 ceasefire agreement, all foreign forces were meant to be withdrawn within months, but in reality hardly any left the war torn North African country, the few that did headed towards EU countries. 

Libya’s rival factions have continued to rely on fighters drawn from African countries, Turkey, Syria, and Russia.

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“China calls on all parties to continue to adhere to the general direction of a political settlement, strengthen dialog and consultation, and garner more consensus for the early resumption of political negotiations and establishing unified state institutions,” said Dai Bing, China’s deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, at the Security Council briefing on the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL).

Dai called on the international community to continue to support efforts to seek African solutions to African problems and promote a political settlement to the Libyan issue.

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Libya has been rocked by instability ever since the 2011 uprising and NATO intervention killed long-time ruler Muammar Gaddafi back in 2011. The country has since been split between rival governments in the east and west, each with different foreign sponsors and militias supporting them. In the West in Tripoli, one faction enjoys the backing of the UN plus Turkey and Qatar; in the east, based in the parliament in Benghazi, the UAE, Russia, Egypt, France, Saudi Arabia all support Field Marshal Haftar, who, to some extent is backed by the US although this is less clear since Trump became President in 2016.

AP/agencies/Maghrebi