3 – 9 Jan: Serraj and Salame meet while Germany destroys Qadhafi’s chemical weapons

Jan 9, 2018 | International actors

On 8 January, Government of National Accord (GNA) head Fayez al-Serraj met with UN Envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame in Tripoli. The two discussed the latest political developments in Libya including the GNA’s military deployment to Zuwara and the Libyan-Tunisian border at Ras Jedir last week, the UN Action Plan for Libya, and the planned return of displaced Tawarghans to their city south of Misrata in February. Serraj reportedly reiterated his support for Salame’s Libya roadmap leading up to elections.

On 5 January, the German Foreign and Defense Ministries said it completed the destruction of components from Muammar al-Qadhafi’s chemicals weapons programme. In a statement, it said the chemicals were destroyed “successfully and in an environmentally sustainable manner” by a state-owned specialist firm, GEKA, which is based in Munster, south of Hamburg. Libya made a formal request to the UN-backed Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons last year for international assistance to have the 500 tons of chemical weapons removed in case they fell into the hands of extremist groups.