UN envoy to Libya briefs Security Council on over 110 violations of Tripoli ceasefire

Speaking before the UN Security Council, Ghassan Salame warned that “these maneuvers to resupply the two parties threaten to precipitate a new and much more dangerous conflagration.”

“They violate the spirit and the letter of the Berlin Conference,” Salame said in an impassioned briefing in front of the 15-member council.

“I urge the parties and their foreign sponsors to desist from reckless actions and instead renew their expressed commitment to work towards a ceasefire,” he added.

World leaders committed to ending all foreign interference and to uphold a weapons embargo to help end Libya’s long-running civil war during a summit in the German capital on January 19.

Salame said he was “deeply worried” by military reinforcements to both sides in the conflict. He said they raised “the specter of a broader conflict engulfing the wider region.”

He cited in particular the reinforcement of Haftar’s forces in Tripoli, including arms, equipment and soldiers, including foreign fighters. Haftar has the support of Russia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.

Salame said his mission had recorded more than 110 reported violations of a fragile ceasefire backed by both Ankara and Moscow that was put in place on January 12