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Al-Sarraj signs Libya ceasefire in Moscow, Haftar wants till Tuesday to make up his mind
[Libya Observer] The Head of the Libyan Presidential Council Fayez al-Sarraj and his delegation have signed a ceasefire agreement at indirect peace talks in Moscow on Monday, while Khalifa Haftar
...Self-proclaimed Field Marshal, served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy, so it's kind of hard to describe him as a Qadaffy holdover. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all...
and his delegation agreed on it but pushed the signing till Tuesday morning, according to a presser for Ottoman Turkish and Russian Foreign Ministers following the talks.

During the talks that lasted about eight hours, mediators Russia and The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor...
urged the Libyan rivals to sign a binding truce to end a nine-month-old war that was initiated by Haftar's forces.

"Today we can report that some progress was made," Sergey Lavrov told news hounds at the 19th century Moscow mansion where the talks were held.

While Cavusoglu told news hounds Haftar wanted to have until Tuesday morning to make up his mind.

Russia's TASS news agency reported that al-Sarraj had refused to engage in direct talks with Haftar, forcing Russian and Ottoman Turkish diplomats to act as go-betweens.

The Moscow talks come after a ceasefire, initiated by Turkey and Russia, saw a lull in heavy fighting and air strikes on Sunday.


Posted by: Fred 2020-01-14
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=561018