The foreign ministers of Germany, France and Italy and the EU’s top diplomat made a joint call on Saturday for a humanitarian truce in Libya, saying that all sides must resume peace talks.
“We want to unite our voices to those of the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and his Acting Special Representative for Libya, Stephanie Williams, in their call for a humanitarian truce in Libya,” the statement said.
“We call on all the Libyan actors to get inspired by the spirit of the Holy Ramadan, and engage in resuming talks for a genuine ceasefire,” said the statement, signed by the EU’s High Representative Josep Borrell, France’s Jean-Yves Le Drian, Italy’s Luigi di Maio and Germany’s Heiko Maas.
Libya’s conflict has sharply escalated this month, with fierce fighting on several fronts in the west of the country despite urgent calls from the UN and aid agencies for a truce to tackle the coronavirus crisis.
Guterres has renewed his plea for a ceasefire as the Islamic holy month of Ramadan began on Friday.
Williams raised the alarm at a press conference on Thursday about the “horrible, intense shelling” of Tripoli’s densely populated neighborhoods.