29 January – 4 February 2020: 5+5 Libyan Joint Military Commission begins meetings

Feb 5, 2020 | Libyan actors

From 1-2 February, clashes and aerial attacks between Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) forces and anti-LNA forces occurred in the al-Washka area, some 130km from Misrata and 100 km from Sirte. On 1 February, LNA Special Force units claimed to have repelled an assault by Turkish forces aligned with the Government of National Accord (GNA). On 2 February, the GNA-aligned air forces undertook aerial attacks on the al-Washka area, targeting LNA forces. GNA media channels claimed that the aerial attacks had killed LNA commander, Major General Salem Driaq, however, he later published a video denying this.
On 3 February, the 5+5 Libyan Joint Military Commission mediated by the United Nations Support Mission to Libya (UNSMIL) began with meetings of the GNA and LNA military representatives in Geneva. The meetings are being moderated by the UN Envoy to Libya, Ghassan Salamé. The Commission was established as one of the points of the communique agreed by the international community at the Berlin Conference on 19 January. On 4 February, Salamé said the parties have agreed on the principle of turning transform the truce into a more solid one, less often violated by either side, but stressed that now the question is what the conditions will be. He added that so far, the two delegations had not met, but that he hoped they would be willing to sit in the same room eventually.
On 3 February, the Libyan Embassy in Niger released a video statement denouncing the GNA and declaring its recognition of the House of Representatives (HoR) as Libya’s legitimate and sovereign government. In a statement, the charge d’affaires of the embassy, Abdullah Bashir, announced the embassy’s support for the HoR and the LNA, and criticized the GNA of facilitating foreign interference in Libya.