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UN, Germany Confirm Holding 2nd Int’l Summit on Libya

UN spokesman Farhan Haq - AFP
UN spokesman Farhan Haq - AFP
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UN, Germany Confirm Holding 2nd Int’l Summit on Libya

UN spokesman Farhan Haq - AFP
UN spokesman Farhan Haq - AFP

Farhan Haq, the deputy spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, told Asharq Al-Awsat on Thursday that UN and German officials are actively preparing for holding a second international summit on Libya in October.

Despite preparations being still underway, a German source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the conference has been slotted for October 5, 2020.

“The German government and the United Nations have announced an online summit for Libya, scheduled for October 5,” DPA news agency reported.

The meeting will include Guterres, foreign ministers, and representatives of the warring parties in Libya, as well as representatives from Germany and the UN, the US, Britain, France, China, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the Republic of Congo, Italy, Egypt and Algeria as well as the European Union, the African Union and the Arab League.

The meeting comes after Berlin organized a summit in January, where parties agreed to stop supplying weapons to the warring factions.

In other news, the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) on Thursday welcomed the decision by Prime Minister of Libya's Government of National Accord (GNA) Fayez Al-Sarraj on his intention to resign and hand over power to the next executive authority by the end of next October.

Acting Special Representative of UN Secretary General Stephanie Williams praised as "brave" the decision taken by Sarraj.

Sarraj's announcement is a "crucial" step in the protracted Libyan crisis, the Mission quoted Williams as saying in a statement.

She said the concerned Libyan parties should fully assume their responsibilities before the Libyans, make "historic" decisions and accept mutual concessions for the sake of their homeland.

She stressed that the recent meetings among the Libyan parties in Switzerland, Egypt and Morocco are an opportunity for resuming the intra-Libyan political talks.

She urged the international community to fulfill its responsibilities, respect Libya's sovereignty, stop interfering in the country's internal affairs and fully adhere to the arms embargo imposed by the UN, according to the statement.

On Wednesday, Al-Sarraj declared his intention to step down and hand over power by the end of next October to help the dialogue committee complete measures to get out of the Libyan security and political crisis. He also welcomed the outcomes of the UN-brokered negotiations.

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Pro-Türkiye Syria Groups Reduce Presence in Kurdish Area, Says Official

US-backed Kurdish fighters stand on their vehicles, as they withdraw from two neighborhoods in Syria's northern city of Aleppo as part of a deal with the Syrian central government, in Aleppo, Syria, Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP)
US-backed Kurdish fighters stand on their vehicles, as they withdraw from two neighborhoods in Syria's northern city of Aleppo as part of a deal with the Syrian central government, in Aleppo, Syria, Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP)
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Pro-Türkiye Syria Groups Reduce Presence in Kurdish Area, Says Official

US-backed Kurdish fighters stand on their vehicles, as they withdraw from two neighborhoods in Syria's northern city of Aleppo as part of a deal with the Syrian central government, in Aleppo, Syria, Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP)
US-backed Kurdish fighters stand on their vehicles, as they withdraw from two neighborhoods in Syria's northern city of Aleppo as part of a deal with the Syrian central government, in Aleppo, Syria, Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP)

Pro-Türkiye Syrian groups have scaled down their military presence in an historically Kurdish-majority area of the country's north which they have controlled since 2018, a Syrian defense ministry official said on Tuesday.

The move follows an agreement signed last month between Syria's new authorities and Kurdish officials that provides for the return of displaced Kurds, including tens of thousands who fled the Afrin region in 2018.

The pro-Ankara groups have "reduced their military presence and checkpoints" in Afrin, in Aleppo province, the official told AFP, requesting anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Their presence has been "maintained in the region for now", said the official, adding that authorities wanted to station them in army posts but these had been a regular target of Israeli strikes.

After opposition forces ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December, the new authorities announced the disbanding of all armed groups and their integration into the new army, a move that should include pro-Türkiye groups who control swathes of northern Syria.

Turkish forces and their Syrian proxies carried out an offensive from January to March 2018 targeting Kurdish fighters in the Afrin area.

The United Nations has estimated that half of the enclave's 320,000 inhabitants fled during the offensive.

Last month, the Kurdish administration that controls swathes of northern and northeastern Syria struck a deal to integrate its civil and military institutions into those of the central government.

Syria's new leadership has been seeking to unify the country since the December overthrow of Assad after more than 13 years of civil war.

This month, Kurdish fighters withdrew from two neighborhoods of Aleppo as part of the deal.

Syrian Kurdish official Bedran Kurd said on X that the Aleppo city agreement "represents the first phase of a broader plan aimed at ensuring the safe return of the people of Afrin".

The autonomous Kurdish-led administration's military force, the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, played a key role in the recapture of the last territory held by the ISIS group in Syria in 2019.