German Foreign Minister visits Libya to try to unblock conflict
"We see a deceptive calm in Libya right now." This is how German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas described the situation in the North African country on his arrival in Tripoli.
The German minister's visit is the first since the summit in Berlin in January that failed to bring peace to the country. "Both parties and their international allies continue to arm the country in a massive escalation and maintain the conditions for a ceasefire," reads the statement published by Maas upon his arrival.
During this visit, the minister will meet with Prime Minister Faye Serraj of the internationally recognized Libyan government in the capital, where they will discuss how to achieve peace with Khalifa Haftar, a strongman of the military side. Among the objectives of this meeting is also the establishment of a demilitarized zone around the city of Sirte, on the Mediterranean coast, and currently under the influence of Haftar's troops.
Maas also said that the situation of refugees in Libya would be discussed. Several human rights organizations have denounced the bad treatment of migrants in the camps supervised by the Libyan authorities. "We have been demanding for some time that the detention centres be closed and we are calling for alternatives to be established," the German minister said.Until now, German mediation in the Libyan conflict has focused on keeping foreign parties out of the war.
In addition to Maas, the defence ministers of Turkey and Qatar also visited the Libyan capital on Monday to secure a ceasefire, according to Libyan and Turkish media. While Serraj, the leader of the National Accord Government (NAG), is backed by the United Nations, Turkey and Qatar, Haftar is supported by a rival administration based in Tobruk, Egypt, Russia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The German Foreign Minister also plans to travel to Abu Dhabi to discuss the Libyan conflict, along with issues related to Iran, Syria, Qatar and Lebanon.
The European Union launched a naval mission to monitor the UN arms embargo on Libya. But countries like Russia and Turkey have ignored it and continued to traffic arms into Libyan territory.
Both Germany, France and Italy have taken an initiative to impose EU sanctions on those who supply the means to transport arms. Turkey and Russia have become the main international power players in the conflict that has turned Libya into a powder keg since 2011.
