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Algeria reaffirms support for restoring peace in Libya

Xinhua, January 8, 2017 Adjust font size:

Algeria reaffirmed on Saturday its commitment to supporting peace and stability in Libya through political dialogues.

"We are for inclusive political dialogue bringing together the real Libyan players who decide for the future of their country as part of the political Agreement signed on Dec. 17, 2015 between the different Libyan parties," Abdelkader Messahel, Algerian minister for Maghreb, African Union and Arab League, told reporters after talks with visiting UN special envoy to Libya Martin Kobler.

He noted that he exchanged views with Kobler on the situation in Libya and they discussed the next steps in settling the conflict in the country.

"Hopefully, 2017 will be the year of sustainable peace and stability in neighboring Libya," the minister said.

Messahel urged Libyan warrant parties to support peace talks without foreign interference as the only way to settle the six-year crisis.

For his part, Kobler said that the international community must help the Libyans restore security and stability.

Libya has turned into a battlefield of a civil war among different armed groups, including terrorists, since former leader Muammar Gaddafi was toppled and killed in 2011.

In December 2015, a shaky UN-backed peace accord between rival parties in Libya was reached to establish a national unity government led by Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj.

The war-torn country is now mostly split between two rival groups, namely the internationally recognized Serraj government, based in the eastern port city of Tobruk, and the Tripoli-based General National Congress supported by Khalifa Haftar. Endit