The 28 EU Member States agreed on Thursday evening, 11 April, on a joint statement calling for an immediate end to all military operations.
The day before, a first attempt at a declaration had failed following comments from France (see EUROPE 12234/22), which was taken into account in this second declaration, according to a French source.
Thus, the High Representative's statement, on behalf of the Twenty-Eight, calls on “all parties to immediately cease all military operations”. If the previous version mentioned General Haftar, at the head of the Libyan National Army (LNA), this statement does not mention him once, probably to spare French sensibilities, Paris keeping in close contact with the general.
“The military attack launched by the LNA on Tripoli and the subsequent escalation in and around the capital are endangering civilians, including migrants and refugees, and disrupting the UN-led political process, with the risk of serious consequences for Libya and the wider region, including the terrorist threat”, Member States add in the statement, highlighting the plight of refugees and migrants, as requested by Paris, an comment missing from the first version.
“The LNA and all the forces that have moved into Tripoli or its vicinity must withdraw and the humanitarian truces called by the UN must be heeded. The European Union reminds the parties in this confrontation that they must respect international law, including international humanitarian law, and that those who violate it will be held accountable”, the Europeans warn.
At Paris' request, the declaration also addresses European concerns about “the involvement of terrorist and criminal elements in the fighting, including individuals listed by the UN Security Council”, urging the Libyan parties to dissociate themselves from these elements, “both publicly and on the ground”.
The EU and its Member States also call on their international and regional partners to exert their influence and “send the unequivocal message to the parties involved that there is no military solution to the crisis, only a political one”, calling for an end to “inflammatory rhetoric”.
Europeans therefore “strongly urge all parties to resume political dialogue without delay and to continue to engage in the UN-led process towards an inclusive political settlement”, promising that they will continue to support the efforts of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General, Ghassan Salamé. Understanding that “in the current circumstances”, the National Conference had to be postponed, they requested that it be convened “as soon as circumstances will allow”.
The Europeans are “ready to support its outcome and to help deliver a peaceful transition in the interest of all Libyans, and chart a path toward credible and peaceful elections as soon as possible, as agreed by the Libyan parties in Paris in May 2018, in Palermo in November 2018 and in Abu Dhabi in February 2019”, they concluded, thus granting Paris' latest request to refer to these three conferences. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)