Several politically dissenting factions within Libya have accused one another of violating a ceasefire agreement proposed by Russia and Turkey earlier this year, and the battle continues on the fringes of Tripoli, the Libyan capital. 

More than nine months into a bloody offensive on the Libyan capital by the Libyan National Army (LNA), Turkish and Russian governments called for a truce between Tripoli and the eastern-based resistance movement led by military commander rebel Khalifa Haftar. Both the LNA and the Tripoli-based (and internationally established) Government of National Accord (GNA) agreed to the ceasefire, which was set to begin at midnight on Sunday, Jan. 12. The truce was in response largely to the LNA’s advancement into Sirte, which is a strategically valuable coastal city. However, according to an article published by Al Jazeera, the GNA reported that it had recorded gunfire, just moments after the ceasefire was scheduled to begin, in the Salaheddin and Wali Rabea regions. 

A GNA official reported that the fire was instigated by the ‘aggressor’s militias,’ but that Libya “renews its commitment to the ceasefire, and emphasises the need for commitment from the patrons of this ceasefire and the United Nations mission in Libya in applying it optimally.” The LNA commander Al-Mabrouk Al-Ghazawi, on the other hand, stated that “the [GNA] militias violated the truce on more than one battlefront, with all types of weapons.” He also included that the LNA’s forces were awaiting further instruction from the LNA’s general command. 

Turkish government officials reported that, while they had sent in reinforcements to support the GNA, both the GNA and LNA were making an effort at upholding the ceasefire agreement, aside from ‘one or two separate incidents.’ Regardless, according to the Reuter’s New Agency, bullet fire could be heard in the Ain Zara and Salaheddin districts. 

Although efforts to implement a ceasefire appears to be the right call, reporter Mahmoud Abdelwahed says that they are difficult for nations like Turkey and Russia to enforce. He told Al Jazeera, “[This is] especially with the UN-recognised government demanding that Haftar’s forces pull out from southern Tripoli as a prerequisite to any settlement in this conflict.” 

The factions in Libya are extremely divided and refer to one another as ‘militias.’ The military factions, which have foreign actors implicated in their interactions with one another, have experienced a great deal of difficulty in open communication. However, a great deal of this conflict has been enabled by nongovernmental actors’ refusal to issue an opinion on the matter. A UN summit in Berlin aimed at limiting foreign interference in cases such as the one in Libya, but it was interfered with by the rise of the LNA and Haftar. 

Anas el Gomati, an analyst conducting research in Libya, has suggested that there is no end in sight to the violent conflict if the ‘international community’ is unable to reach a consensus on curbing the deadly warring in Libya. He told Al Jazeera: “When we think that there is so much disunity in the international community, they have to have a conference about finding a unified position amongst themselves before they can even bring Libyans to the table. That’s the main issue here.” 

So far, the LNA has received support from Jordan, Egypt, Russia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), while Turkey has supported the GNA; Turkey voted last month to deploy its troops to the North African nation, and while it has yet to do so, it has not retracted the decision. It would likely be beneficial for the United Nations to remain active in pressing for a unified position on the issue and a more comprehensive plan for enforcement of a ceasefire, or the violence is likely to continue.