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Russia Claims Progress but Falls Short on Libya Cease-Fire Deal

Charles Maynes

   MOSCOW - Russia said it made progress after hosting indirect peace
   talks aimed at ending the conflict in Libya -- despite failing to
   secure an open ended cease-fire deal between the warring sides in the
   nine-month war."

   Today we can report that some progress was made," said Russian Foreign
   Minister Sergey Lavrov, at a press conference late Monday in which he
   described the eight-hour parallel negotiations with co-mediator Turkish
   Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and Russian Defense Minister Sergei
   Shoigu as "serious talks."

   The head of the Tripoli-based, internationally-recognized government,
   Fayez al-Sarraj, agreed to sign a memorandum that promised an end to
   offensive military actions and creation of a commission to identify a
   line of division between the warring parties.

   Yet Khalifa Haftar, the commander of the Libyan National Army who has
   made recent gains in an assault on the Libyan capital, Tripoli, asked
   for additional time to consider the proposal before leaving Moscow
   Tuesday without signing the agreement.

   Haftar later commented to Middle East media outlets, saying the
   Russian-Turkish plan "ignored many of the demands of the LNA -- such as
   a deadline for disbanding government forces and creation of a unity
   government.

   In Ankara, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan maintained that
   Haftar had simply gone back on his word to sign the agreement while in
   Moscow.

   Russia's Lavrov pledged that Moscow would keep working on the Libyan
   peace deal "until a result is achieved."

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