Abul Gheit welcomes UN ceasefire efforts in Libya

CAIRO - 5 September 2018: Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Abul Gheit welcomed on Wednesday efforts exerted by UN envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame to reach a ceasefire on Tuesday between warring groups in Tripoli.

In a press release, Abul Gheit's spokesman Mahmoud Afifi said the Arab League secretary general lauded the UN envoy's role in securing the ceasefire deal but called for taking all arrangements to guarantee that all sides end hostile acts and reopen M'etiga airport.

These arrangements should also pave the way for reaching a lasting and comprehensive solution to the problem of militias and armed groups that threaten political transition in Libya, Abul Gheit said.

Fighting erupted last week when the Seventh Brigade, militias which hail from Tarhouna, a town about 40 miles (60 kilometers) south of Tripoli, attacked southern neighborhoods of the capital. The Tripoli Revolutionaries' Brigades and the Nawasi Brigade — militias which support the UN-backed government — have come to the city's defense.

Tripoli is formally controlled by the UN-backed government of National Accord, but armed groups working with it act with autonomy.