“No, Vladimir Putin as commander-in-chief of the Russian forces hasn’t sent forces to Libya, there was no such order,” Peskov told journalists, Sputnik reported from Kremlin.

The comment comes amid reports in the Russian media that a Russian soldier who allegedly died in Libya was buried last week in the Orenburg Region of the country.

Last week, Erdogan alleged that Moscow was taking part in the Libyan war through Russian private military companies.

He added that Ankara would continue to support Libyan Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj’s internationally recognized government.

The post No Military Force in Libya, Kremlin Says appeared first on Iran News Daily.

Officials gathered in Munich Sunday expressed concern about “the deplorable recent violations” of the arms embargo, while also reaffirming the conclusions of a summit in Berlin last month, which sought to move toward ending the civil war between Fayez al-Sarraj, Libya’ UN-backed prime minister, and his rival General Khalifa Haftar.

Stephanie Williams, a UN deputy special envoy who also attended the meeting, said that the situation on the ground “remains deeply troubling” and the truce “is holding only by a thread.” There have been “hundreds of violations reported” and “the arms embargo has become a joke,” she said at a news conference, Bloomberg reported.

Germany, Russia, Turkey, France, Britain, the US, China, Egypt, Tunisia, and the United Arab Emirates were among nations represented at the meeting on the sidelines of a high-level security conference in the Bavarian capital.

“Despite all the areas where we haven’t reached our goal, the path that we’ve chosen is functioning and the diplomatic engagement in the past days has been effective,” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said at the news conference.

The post Libya Arms Embargo Has Become A ‘Joke’, UN Says appeared first on Iran News Daily.

The vote on the British-drafted resolution was 14-0, with Russia abstaining even though Russian President Vladimir Putin was one of the 12 leaders who agreed to the plan at a conference in Berlin on Jan. 19, AP reported.

Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said he abstained because the government has “serious doubts” about whether the resolution can be implemented and end the war between rival governments “in the way we’d like to see it.” He said the Berlin plan “has one defect … and that is a lack of clearly expressed consent from the Libyan sides themselves.”

“Events will show us who was right,” Nebenzia said. “And if the resolution will have a positive impact on resolving the conflict, I will be the first to acknowledge I was wrong.”

British Ambassador Karen Pierce countered that “the resolution is viable,” saying all it does “is give concrete expression to the commitments that leaders adopted at Berlin — and that included the adoption by President Putin.”

“We all want to see it implemented,” she said. “But it will be up to the parties on the ground and their foreign backers as to whether or not it gets implemented. So to the Russians and the others who have very close interests in Libya, I would think the remedy is in their hands.”

Since 2014, Libya has been divided between two rival camps. One is the Tripoli-based government of Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, and the other is based in the eastern city of Tobruk and supported militarily by rebel forces under the command of Khalifa Haftar.

A weak UN-recognized administration that holds the capital of Tripoli and parts of the country’s west is backed by Turkey, which recently sent thousands of soldiers to Libya, and to a lesser degree Qatar and Italy as well as local militias.

On the other side is a rival government in the east that supports Haftar, whose forces launched an offensive to capture the capital last April and are backed by the United Arab Emirates and Egypt as well as France and Russia.

Acting US deputy ambassador Cherith Norman Chalet told the council after the vote on Wednesday that it’s “very unfortunate that foreign mercenaries, including from the Kremlin-linked Wagner Group, are making an inclusive political solution harder to achieve” and making it harder for the two sides to get together.

The resolution demands that all countries refrain from interfering in Libya’s conflict and its internal affairs and observe a UN arms embargo, “including by ceasing all support for and withdrawing all armed mercenary personnel.” Russia sought unsuccessfully to change references to the growing involvement of mercenaries in the initial draft to “foreign terrorist fighters.”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said last week that the Berlin agreement has been repeatedly violated by continuing arms deliveries to the warring parties and escalating fighting. He called the current offensives by rival forces “a scandal,” saying the commitments “apparently were made without a true intention of respecting them.”

The resolution welcomes last week’s cease-fire talks between Libya’s warring sides in Geneva and calls for their continuation “without further delay in order to agree a permanent cease-fire.”

It asks Guterres to submit his views on conditions for a cease-fire and proposals for effective monitoring of a truce, with a view to making detailed recommendations when a cease-fire is announced. The African Union, European Union, and the Arab League have been mentioned as possible participants in cease-fire monitoring along with the UN.

Germany’s deputy ambassador, Juergen Schulz, said the council was sending “an important signal for peace in Libya, reaffirming the concrete commitments of all the participants of the Berlin conference.”

He welcomed the timing — ahead of a Feb. 16 follow-up ministerial meeting of Berlin conference participants on the sidelines of the Munich security conference.

“The swift implementation of the Berlin conclusions is now crucial in light of the ongoing violations of international humanitarian law and reports of mounting civilian casualties,” Schulz said.

The resolution threatens sanctions against those supporting acts that threaten peace which Schulz said demonstrates the council’s “resolve to hold violators accountable.”

South African Ambassador Jerry Matjila, whose country chairs the African Union, stressed Libya’s roots in Africa, saying the arms embargo must be observed to prevent the conflict spilling into the Sahel.

“The African Union has been very ready to play a central role, including the issue of monitoring of peace,” he said. “The road ahead is going to be very, very difficult, long. So it really needs all hands on deck, and you couldn’t do that without African hands.”

The post UN Council Votes for 55-Point Road Map to End War in Libya appeared first on Iran News Daily.

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Libya warring sides ended several days of UN-brokered talks without reaching a deal to consolidate a provisional cease-fire in and around the capital, the UN said.

The post Libya talks end with no formal cease-fire deal appeared first on Iran News Daily.

“Most were disembarked in Tripoli and all were taken to detention centers,” IOM spokesperson Safa Msehli told a UN media briefing at the UN offices in Geneva.

She said that NGO search and rescue vessels reported having rescued 237 others.

“The current sudden increase in departures is especially alarming given the very limited search and rescue capacity in the Mediterranean and specifically in the central Mediterranean,” said the IOM spokesperson, Anadolu Agency reported.

In the first two weeks of last year, not one of migrants returns to Libyan shores.

The returned migrants are among the more than 1,000 who have left Libya by sea since Jan. 1, driven in part by the heaviest clashes Tripoli has seen since hostilities began nine months ago, said Msehli.

Migrants told the IOM at disembarkation points in Libya that the escalation in hostilities in and around the capital and the deteriorating humanitarian situation are the main reasons behind this increase in departures.

Most of the returns were carried out by the Libyan coast guard.

During the same period last year, 23 bodies were recovered by the coast guard and no migrants were returned to Libya.

Over 1,000 other migrants who have registered for IOM’s Voluntary Humanitarian Return program are still trapped in Libya due to the security situation.

“The challenging and unsafe environment in the country’s capital has disrupted aviation activities thus hindering an important lifeline for stranded migrants,” said Msehli.

On Jan. 12, the warring sides in the Libyan conflict announced a cease-fire.

Since the ouster of late ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, two seats of power have emerged in Libya: one in eastern Libya supported mainly by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, and the other in Tripoli, which enjoys UN and international recognition.

The post Libyan Migrants Came Back Home in 2020: IOM appeared first on Iran News Daily.