The work of the sixth meeting of the Libyan Joint Military Committee 5+5 started on Thursday in the coastal city of Sirte, in order to discuss ways to complete the implementation of the ceasefire agreement signed on 23 October in the Swiss city of Geneva.
The meeting will also discuss the departure of foreign mercenaries from the country.
With the participation of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), members of the two military delegations representing the rival governments in Libya arrived last night in the city of Sirte - 480 kilometres east of Tripoli - to attend these meetings.
The meetings are expected to determine further measures and steps to open the east-west coastal road linking the cities of Sirte and Misrata, and the establishment of security barriers.
On the 4th of this month, the sixth meeting of the 5+5 Joint Military Committee in Sirte was postponed until "setting a date for the reopening of the coastal road between the cities of Sirte and Misrata, which has been closed for a year and a half".
On 10 July, UN Special Envoy for Libya Jan Kubis discussed with members of the General Command of the Joint Military Committee the "Geneva decisions" and ways to implement them with a focus on "the departure of foreign forces and mercenaries and completing the securing of the coastal road to open it".
The issue of the opening of the coastal road between the eastern and western parts of the country as well as the expulsion of mercenaries and foreign forces from Libya considered as a fundamental step for the implementation of the ceasefire agreement that are increasingly holding back the comprehensive peace process and national reconciliation due to the differences that exist between the two rival parties.
Last February, the Political Dialogue Forum for Libya (PDLF) elected a new transitional executive that will have to unify the national bodies, maintain the ceasefire and hold the elections.
