On Monday, the Acting Special Representative of the Secretary-General and head of the United Nations Support Mission to Libya (UNSMIL), Stephanie Williams, said that the 5+5 Joint Military Commission (JMC) decided to have its main headquarters in the city of Sirte. The JMC is finishing on its two-day meeting in the southern Libyan city of Ghadames, and Mrs. Williams has specified that the Commission had already accomplished its objectives.
In a press conference, Williams announced that the Libyan warring parties agreed to form a military committee to oversee the return of the forces to their barracks and the withdrawal of foreign forces from all front lines.
The UNSMIL head added that they also agreed on measures with regard to monitoring the ceasefire with the participation of international observers, in addition to holding a meeting in Brega between commanders of the Petroleum Facilities Guard (PFG) of both sides on 16th November.
She added that the parties also agreed that the next meeting will be in the city of Sirte this month,” and stressed on the need for “an immediate return of flights to the city of Sebha and Ghadames.”
Williams noted that the subcommittee, formed by the 5+5 Joint Military Commission, will continue to swap detainees until the completion of this file,” noting that the two parties also agreed to “form specialized engineering teams to remove mines, in cooperation with the General Intelligence Service and the United Nations.”
She confirmed that the JMC had also agreed to work on “forming a committee to address hate speech.”
Notably, US Ambassador to Libya Richard Norland welcomed the efforts of Libyan participants in the Joint Military Commission’s (JMC) consultations in Ghadames to implement the ceasefire agreement.
Norland said it is with courageous efforts that the Libyan parties begin to take concrete steps toward the ultimate departure of foreign forces and mercenaries.
“This important trajectory will continue when a broad and representative group of Libyans gathers in Tunis beginning on 9th November for the UN-facilitated Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF),” he noted.
The US ambassador confirmed that the LPDF aims to finalize a roadmap to national elections through which all Libyans would exercise their sovereign and inalienable right to choose their future through democratic means.