It will involve searching ships in the Mediterranean carrying arms off Libya and checking on illegal fuel and oil being smuggled from the war-torn North African country.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell says diplomacy cannot work without enforcement action. 

Europe will use its aerial, satellite and maritime assets to ensure the UN arms embargo against Libya is enforced.

A previous attempt to do this was blocked by the then Italian government claiming the use of warships attracted illegal immigrants to its shores.

The EU announcement came as rebels loyal to Khalifa Haftar shelled Tripoli days after agreeing to ceasefire with the Government of National Accord to allow medics to deal with the COVID 19 pandemic  

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They’ve sent their draft back to their principals in Tripoli and Benghazi for approval.

If President Fayez al Sarraj of the Government of National Accord and Khalifa Haftar of the  Libyan National Army say OK to their delegates proposals, the Geneva meeting will be reconvened.

It would facilitate the safe return of hundreds of thousands of  civilians to their areas and stop Libya from sliding into a proxy war involving Turkey, Russia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.

Military observers would be appointed and backed by the UN Mission in Libya.

The deal should also stop attacks on Tripoli by Haftar’s troops. 

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This is the first such announcement since Ankara sent troops to back the Government of National Accord in Tripoli.

ends intro

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan himself announced the death of his soldiers in Libya, adding that there were Syrian National Army troops alongside them reinforcing a military co-operation  treaty signed between Turkey and Libya.

Last months Berlin summit that agreed hostilities should stop on Libya so that the political peace process  could take place has evidently broken down.

Rebel leader Khalifa Haftar, backed by Russia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, claims to have killed at least 16 Turkish troops as he defends advances his forces have made in capturing Tripoli.

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Ships had to be moved to avoid forest from oil storage tanks set ablaze.

Relief at yesterday’s resumption of peace talks on Libya quickly turned to frustration as news of the rocket attack on the Tripoli port reached Geneva.

The Government of National Accord walked out until, it said, a firm position is adopted against the aggressor and violence.

No-one has claimed responsibility for the attack but the government is blaming Russian-backed rebel leader Khalifa Haftar.

UN special envoy on Libya Ghassan Salame says he’s confident the peace talks can be rescued. 

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He’s speaking in Algiers where he’s visiting with a strong business delegation.

Turkey’s taken sides in Libya, physically supporting the United-Nations-backed Government of National Accord.

So President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s exchanges on Libya with his Algerian counterpart Abdelmadjid Tabboune, who strongly rejects any foreign interference in their eastern neighbour with whom they share a 1 000km border, will have been interesting.

Erdogan accuses Libyan rebel leader Khalifa Haftar of breaking the truce signed in Berlin earlier this month.

The United Nations fears both sides in the intractable conflict have been acquiring heavy weapons and armoured vehicles despite the agreement in Berlin to enforce the 2011 arms embargo on Libya. 

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This message on their website hours after leader Khalifa Haftar left Moscow without signing a ceasefire.

Libyan government leader Fayez Al Sarraj must wonder how he was played by his backer, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin who supports Khalifa  Haftar’s rebels.

They were called to Moscow to ink a ceasefire proposed last week by Erdogan and Putin.

It was clear from the start Putin could not deliver Haftar who left, saying he had to consider a few details.

The bellicose message that followed shows he intended duping the Government of National Accord while pursuing his plan to seize the capital Tripoli.

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Meeting in Istanbul, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for ceasefire to come into effect at midnight on Sunday.

The Turkish and Russian presidents were attending  the inauguration of the Turkestream pipeline carrying Russian gas through Turkey to Europe.

The 920 km pipeline that crosses the Black Sea is part of Russia’s efforts to avoid using  Ukraine to export its gas.

Turkey and Russia support opposite sides in the Libya conflict.

Vladimir Putin backs the rebel leader Khalifa Haftar whose forces have taken the strategic coastal town of Sirte and have set their sights on Tripoli.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan is deploying troops to support the United-Nations-backed Government of National Accord in the capital. 

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This comes as Turkish troops move into the capital Tripoli to support the United Nations backed Government of National Accord.

Situated 450 kilometers east of Tripoli, Sirte was liberated from the Islamist State rebels in 2016.

It is the hometown of dictator Muammar Gaddafi whose fatal overthrow in 2011 has plunged Libya into chaos.

The GNA has not confirmed the loss of Sirte, which was announced by rebel leader Khalifa Haftar in the city of Bhengazi on Libya’s eastern border.

With Turkey moving troops in to protect the GNA and its interests in the eastern Mediterranean, Arab fears of a proxy war in Libya look more and more likely. 

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It urges all parties immediately to cease hostilities and the fight for the capital Tripoli.

The statement by Britain, Egypt, France, Italy, the United Arab Emirates and the United States is the latest response to warlord Khalifa Haftar’s four-month assault on Tripoli that’s cost 1 093 lives and displaced more than a hundred thousand people.

The statement says there is no military solution to Libya’s crisis since the 2011 overthrow of Muammar Gadaffi.

The fighting has prevented the UN-backed Government of National Accord from holding elections to end the fighting in the oil-rich North African country. 

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More than 20 people have died in the worst fighting seen in Libya for months.

The clashes closed Mitiga airport and damaged aircraft there.

Fighting gives the lie to claimed by the internationally recognized Government of National Accord to have stablized the capital city.

The violence also undermines GNA efforts to persuade diplomatic missions to return.

Automatic gunfire and artillery rounds were heard from the city centre and authorities at Mitiga airport, which operates all civilian air traffic to and from the capital, said flights were suspended until further notice.

The airport was recently reopened having been closed since 2014 because of damage incurred during fighting

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