Libya’s Tripoli-based govt ‘welcomes’ ceasefire calls

Libya’s UN-supported government has welcomed Russian and Turkish calls for a ceasefire amid the ongoing civil war, AP reports. The Tripoli-based government led by PM Fayez al-Sarraj released a statement late Wednesday, expressing its full support of “any serious calls for the resumption of the political process and the elimination of the specter of war.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan released a joint statement after a meeting in Istanbul, calling for a January 12 ceasefire in the battles between forces loyal to Sarraj’s government and Khalifa Haftar’s eastern-based Libyan National Army.

The calls for a stop to the fighting came amid a flurry of diplomatic activity by European powers on Wednesday. Italian PM Giuseppe Conte met with Haftar in Rome. Sarraj met with European Council President Charles Michel and EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell in Brussels.