Milities loyal to Putist general Khalifa Haftar have ordered fishermen near Sirte harbor to leave the area, an official said on Thursday.
Abdul-Hadi Daraa, a spokesman for the Libyan army’s liberation operations room Sirte-Jufra, said militias were urging fishermen to remove their boats from Sirte Port within five days, according to a report by Anadolu Agency (AA).
Daraa noted that the order indicates that the Haftar militias do not intend to implement the decision made after the 5 + 5 Joint Military Commission.
He went on to say that the agreement includes the withdrawal of foreign mercenaries from the region and the removal of mines in the area, but the military movements in the Sirte-Jufra area do not look like Haftar’s militias are acting in line with the deal.
Daraa also said that Russian mercenaries are still present in the Wadi Jarif Dam and Battuma areas, as well as in Ghardabiya Air Base.
The sixth round of the 5 + 5 Joint Military Commission meetings between representatives of the Libyan army affiliated to the legitimate Libyan government and forces in line with warlord Haftar took place last week in Sirte. The purpose of the meetings was to promote the implementation of the recent ceasefire following talks in Ghadames, a desert oasis about 465 kilometers southwest of the capital Tripoli, near Libya’s borders with Algeria and Tunisia.
As a result of the talks, which began on 19 October, it was agreed that the coastal road, which connects important population centers in the country to the east and west, would be opened while mines on this road would be removed for safe passage for civilians. and armed units. Foreign powers would also mainly withdraw to Tripoli and Benghazi.
Similarly, during the Tunis talks, the Tripoli-based UN-recognized National Accord Government (GNA) had strongly emphasized that it would not accept further talks in the presence of the foreign mercenaries and their aircraft systems in Sirte.
The talks took place under great international pressure after the warring parties agreed on a UN-brokered ceasefire agreement last month in Geneva. Previous diplomatic initiatives to end the conflict have repeatedly collapsed.
In parallel with military talks, six days of direct talks were held in Tunisia and ended on Sunday evening, during which rival delegates agreed to hold national elections on December 24, 2021.
The political talks will continue online in a week and will focus on the mechanisms for forming a new government that will monitor the polls and build on months of relative calm since GNA launched a counterattack against a year-long offensive in the capital at Haftar.
