TRIPOLI: Libya’s UN-recognized government said on Monday it was pressing efforts to reach a permanent ceasefire after days of deadly clashes in the capital and protests demanding the prime minister’s resignation.
The fighting last week pitted an armed group aligned with the Tripoli-based government against factions it has sought to dismantle, resulting in at least eight dead, according to the UN.
The Libyan Defense Ministry said in a statement that “the efforts toward a ceasefire remain ongoing” and that it was “directly” overseeing the process to ensure stability.
The fighting had largely ended by late on Thursday, according to an Interior Ministry official and the UN mission in Libya, but without any formal ceasefire agreement.
The UN mission, UNSMIL, welcomed on Sunday the creation of a “truce committee building on the fragile peace reached last week” after the violence that saw heavy artillery used in central Tripoli.
UNSMIL said the committee “is focused on facilitating a permanent ceasefire with emphasis on the protection of all civilians, and to agree on security arrangements for Tripoli.”
Tripoli saw a return to relative calm late last week as flights resumed, shops reopened, and people returned to work, but the situation remained volatile as calls for Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah’s resignation grew.
The clashes were sparked by the killing of an armed faction leader by a group aligned with Dbeibah’s government — the 444 Brigade, which later fought a third group, the Radaa force that controls parts of eastern Tripoli and the city’s airport.
It came after Dbeibah announced a string of executive orders seeking to dismantle Radaa and dissolve other Tripoli-based armed groups, but excluding the 444 Brigade.
The 444 Brigade said on Monday it had uncovered a mass grave with 10 bodies in Abu Salim, a district of Tripoli that before last week was controlled by the group of Abdelghani Al-Kikli, whose killing sparked the clashes.
Dbeibah had accused Al-Kikli’s group, the Support and Stability Apparatus, of multiple abuses, including “cold-blooded” executions and forced disappearance of critics.
In an address on Saturday after securing the public support of several dignitaries, Dbeibah called on armed groups in Tripoli to align themselves with “state institutions.”
“Our goal is a Libya free of militias and corruption,” he said.
