Berlin conference-World powers agree to respect arms embargo in Libyan conflict

German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced that countries with interests in Libya’s long-running conflict have accepted that they should respect a much-violated arms embargo, which should be better restrained than it has been to date.

“We agreed on a comprehensive plan forward,” Merkel said. “I can say that all participants worked really constructively together”, she said before adding: “We all agree that we should respect the arms embargo and that the arms embargo should be controlled more strongly than it has been in the past.”

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres thanked Merkel for her “absolutely remarkable” efforts.“I cannot stress enough the summit’s conclusion that there is no military solution to the conflict in Libya,” he told reporters in Berlin.“I hope the commitments made today will contribute to a lasting solution to the Libya crisis,” Guterres said.

Guterres stated all the participants pledged to “put pressure on the parties for a full cease-fire to be reached.”

Among those attending were Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Libya’s two principal rival leaders, Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj and Gen. Khalifa Hifter, also came to Berlin. Merkel and her foreign minister met both men at the chancellery before the summit started.