Tripoli, Aug 15 (IANS) The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) revealed the intention to turn the humanitarian truce between the UN-backed government and the rival east-based army into a permanent cease-fire.
“After the UNSMIL called upon the parties on Aug 8 to express their commitment to a humanitarian truce on the occasion of Eid al-Adha, the mission welcomes the positive response by the parties and the palpable reduction of violence in the Tripoli area,” the mission said in a statement released on Wednesday, Xinhua reported.
However, there were still violations of the truce, which include use of heavy fire in civilian areas, the statement noted.
The special representative of the UN secretary-general expressed the readiness of UNSMIL to transform what was accomplished in the period of truce into a permanent cease-fire, according to the statement.
Since early April, the government has been engaged in a deadly armed conflict against the army, which is trying to take over the capital Tripoli and overthrow the government.
The fighting so far has killed more than 1,000 people, injured more than 5,700 others, and forced over 120,000 to flee their homes, according to the World Health Organization.
The army is allied with the east-based government, as the North African nation is politically divided between eastern and western governments.
Libya has been suffering escalated violence and insecurity ever since the fall of the late leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
–IANS
rt/