A UN resolution that would endorse a plan to restore peace to Libya and condemn the recent increase in violence faced opposition from Russia and South Africa on Wednesday.
The two nations raised objections to the British-drafted UN Security Council resolution, which backs the 55-point roadmap to end the war in Libya.
The plan was approved by leaders of 12 world powers and other key countries in Berlin on Jan. 19.
Belgium Ambassador to the UN Marc Pecsteen de Buytswerve, the current council president, told reporters after brief closed council consultations on the draft resolution that “efforts are continuing” to reach agreement.
“My own feeling is that we are close, but there are still some efforts that are required,” De Buytswerve said, adding that he urged all council members “to show flexibility in order to get an agreement.”
The proposed resolution recalls the commitment of all participants at the Berlin meeting to support a ceasefire, refrain from interfering in Libya’s conflict and its internal affairs, fully comply with a UN arms embargo and withdraw all mercenaries who have been increasingly involved in the fighting.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told at a news conference on Tuesday that the Berlin agreement has been repeatedly violated by continuing arms deliveries to the warring parties and escalating fighting.
Guterres called the current offensives by rival forces “a scandal,” saying “all the commitments that were made apparently were made without a true intention of respecting them.”
Libya has been in turmoil since 2011, when a civil war toppled then-Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, who was later killed.
Sudanese armed groups from the Darfur region have joined the fighting on both sides, according to a report by UN experts.
The draft resolution welcomes the ceasefire talks, which began on Tuesday in Geneva, Switzerland, and asks Guterres to submit his views to the council on conditions for a ceasefire and proposals for effective monitoring of a truce, “taking into account the possibility of contributions from regional organizations.”
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