Sudan says warring Libyan factions accepted Bashir’s peace initiative
November 11, 2014 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese foreign minister, Ali Karti, said that Libya’s warring parties in Tripoli and Tobruk have accepted the initiative launched by president Omer Hassan al-Bashir to stop the ongoing conflict in the country.
He said that Sudan will reflect the efforts it made to bring the warring parties to the negotiating table in the upcoming meeting, pointing that these efforts come within the framework of the initiatives launched by Libya’s neighbouring countries.
Sudan’s top diplomat further said he urged Libya’s conflicting parties to stop the war and seek to achieve peace and stem the bloodshed, stressing he sensed acceptance and desire for dialogue from various Libyan parties he met with.
“All Libyan factions concluded that dialogue is the right path and there are no conditions put to [hold] it”, he said.
He underscored that dialogue will resolve all problems which appear to be conditions set forward by various parties, stressing that Libya’s neighbouring countries agreed to hold its next regular meeting in Khartoum.
Upon his arrival to Libya, Karti met with the speaker of the Libyan parliament Aguila Salah Issa and the foreign minister of Libya’s interim government, Mohamed al-Dairi in Tobruk.
He also met with the president of the General National Congress of Libya (GNC), Nuri Ali Abusahmain, and the prime minister, Omer al-Hasi in Tripoli.
Karti added that he was commissioned by president Bashir to travel to Libya, pointing the latter sent with him a message of peace and fraternity to the Libyan people from their brothers in Sudan.
In Khartoum, the foreign ministry spokesperson, Youssef al-Kordofani, said Karti travelled to Cairo and met with his Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Shoukry, to brief him about the outcome of his talks with the Libyan antagonists.
Last month, Libya’s internationally recognised premier, Abdullah al-Thani, paid a three-day visit to Khartoum, and accepted a peace plan proposed by president Bashir to bring different Libyan groups together for talks on ending the conflict.
In September, Thani’s government said Sudan was arming “terror” groups after an arms-laden Sudanese plane touched down in southern Libya, allegedly bound for a military airbase in Tripoli held by mostly Islamist militias who seized the capital in August.
But Sudan has vehemently denied accusations of backing any side in the Libyan conflict, saying the weapons were shipped for the use of a joint force between the two countries.
Libya has been plagued by political infighting, with government and parliament unable to control militias that have continued to defy state authority since ousting Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
(ST)