The Libyan National Army commanded by Khalifa Haftar has rejected a US proposal backed by western parties and the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) to demilitarize the city of Sirte.
Haftar stressed that the LNA will not hand over the city to the invaders and will not back off.
The Security Chamber of Sirte and Al-Jufra zone that is affiliated with Fayez al-Sarraj’s Government of National Accord (GNA) announced the deployment of commanders to posts near Sirte.
Acting Special Representative and Head of UNSMIL Stephanie Williams met with Head of the High Council of State Khalid Al-Mishri and his accompanying delegation in Geneva. They discussed the current situation in Libya as well as dialogue tracks emanating from the Berlin Conference.
UNSMIL said in a statement that the meeting focused on ways to resume the political track as soon as possible in order to avoid potential deterioration in the military situation. In addition, the two parties discussed the issue of corruption and its devastating impact.
LNA spokesman Ahmed al-Mesmari, in a press conference held on Wednesday, refused to establish a demilitarized zone in Sirte, stressing that it was “safe and not a conflict zone.” He explained that the purpose of this proposal is to hand over the city to Turkey without fighting.
Mesmari said that “all weapons are available, all types of forces are available, and radar air cover is now available on all Libyan territories.”
He pointed out that the ports of Tripoli, Misrata, and Khamis have become “the main ports for the invading forces supported by Qatar.”
Regarding the opening of the oil ports, Mesmari announced that Haftar “issued a decision to empty the oil tanks and derivatives located in the oil ports and export them.”
Chairman of the National Oil Corporation (NOC) Mustafa Sanallah met Justin Brady, head of Office for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), and defended the role of NOC despite the water scarcity in Libya due to the illegal shut down of oil sources.
Sanallah pledged transparency by publishing data and statistics related to output and revenues of oil exports and sales.
