CAIRO: The Arab League Council on Tuesday warned that foreign military interference in Libya will facilitate the transfer of foreign terrorist fighters into the war-torn North African country.
In a resolution after an emergency meeting in Cairo, the council said the ongoing military escalation in Libya is exacerbating the situation in the country and threatening the security and stability of its neighbours and the entire region.
It called for the military escalation to cease and a political settlement in order to restore stability and security to Libya and eliminate terrorists.
It asked the secretary general of the pan-Arab body, Ahmed Abul Gheit, to make contact with all international parties in the crisis to resolve it and prevent any foreign military intervention that would threaten international peace and security.
Libya is currently locked in a conflict between the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli and the self-styled Libyan National Army of General Khalifa Haftar, which is allied with a rival administration in the eastern city of Tobruk.
Haftar’s forces launched a military campaign to seize Tripoli in April that has since reached a stalemate.
The conflict has turned into a proxy war, as both sides have foreign backers.
Last week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country would send troops to Libya at the request of the rival GNA, which last month signed a controversial security cooperation pact with Ankara. The step has stoked fears that Libya’s years long feud could become a regional conflict.
The Turkish presidency sent a motion on deploying troops to Libya to parliament for approval on Monday.
— dpa
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