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EU considering ceasefire options to support Libya truce

Video Credit: Reuters Studio - Duration: 01:19s - Published
EU considering ceasefire options to support Libya truce

EU considering ceasefire options to support Libya truce

The European Union's top diplomat says they must consider all ways to support the fragile truce in Libya.

Adam Reed reports.

The European Union will discuss all ways to uphold the fragile ceasefire in Libya, but any peace settlement will need real EU support to make it stick.

That's according to the EU's top diplomat, Josep Borrell.

Over the weekend foreign powers agreed at a summit in Berlin to shore up the shaky truce.

The country's been in turmoil since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 Borrell on Monday (January 20): (SOUNDBITE) (English) EUROPEAN UNION HIGH REPRESENTATIVE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS, JOSEP BORRELL, SAYING: "There are several possibilities and the (EU Foreign) ministers will have to decide what to do in order to help implement the agreements of yesterday's conference (Berlin Conference on Libya)." Asked about whether the EU could consider a military peace-keeping mission, Borrell would only say that a ceasefire requires someone to take care of it, and that someone has to monitor and manage it.

The EU has military missions around the world, but has struggled to keep a team of experts in Tripoli to support the U.N.-backed government there due to security concerns, Borrell's comments were also backed up by Finland's foreign minister, who suggested the EU's naval mission off Libya should be restarted.

The naval mission was aimed at upholding an arms embargo on Libya and controlling migration across the Mediterranean.

It ended last spring after pressure from the Italian government, which was largely controlled by a hard right anti-migrant party at the time.




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