Libya: Haftar's militia violates ceasefire agreement in Sirte

The Libyan army yesterday announced that its forces were fired at by the militia of renegade General Khalifa Haftar in the Bukharia region, west Sirte.

The spokesman for the Sirte-Jufra Liberation Operations Room, Hadi Dara, told Anadolu Agency that their forces came under fire with light machine guns near the Bukhari area, 24 kilometres west of Sirte.

Dara added: “What happened was a breach of the ceasefire, at a time when we expected Haftar’s militia to withdraw in order to start implementing the (5+5) Joint Military Committee (JMC) agreement, but we were surprised by the shooting at our forces.”

He accused Haftar’s militia of keeping mercenaries and mines in violation of the JMC agreement, indicating that this breach is to be considered as a refusal to implement the pact.

Since 23 October, a ceasefire agreement has been implemented in Libya under the auspices of the United Nations.

The Sirte agreement provides for starting to clear the coastal road to allow the safe passage of civilians, removing mines, and evacuating mercenaries and foreign fighters.

On 12 December, the Libyan army announced that it had monitored a military build-up of Haftar’s militias in Sirte, Jufra, and the south of the country.

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