9-15 December: GNA Defence Minister claims that the LNA has violated the ceasefire agreement

Dec 16, 2020 | Libyan actors

As the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) shows signs of vulnerability, cracks have appeared in the ceasefire agreement between the Government of National Accord (GNA) and Libyan National Army (LNA).

On 11 December, GNA Defence Minister Saleh al-Deen al-Namroush claimed in an interview with the French news outlet France24 that the LNA had violated its ceasefire agreement with the GNA. Namroush warned that the GNA would pull out of the UN-mediated ceasefire if such attacks continued, and ‘expressed serious doubts that elections could be held in December 2021’. He added that if the ceasefire broke down, the GNA stood ready to engage in a military confrontation.

On 12 December, the ‘former’ commander of the Tripoli Revolutionaries Brigade (TRB), Haithem Tajouri, returned to Libya after having fled to the United Arab Emirates in mid-2019.

On 14 December, 32 members of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) threatened to resign in a statement calling on the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) not to ‘obstruct the voting process’. The signatories rejected UNSMIL’s proposal to create a new mechanism for selecting candidates for a new Libyan transitional executive authority. Reports suggest that the signatories believe the UN is tailoring the process to favour its preferred candidates.