Arab League welcomes permanent ceasefire in Libya

The Arab League welcomed the permanent ceasefire agreement in Libya signed at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva Friday, describing it as a "great national achievement."

The League said in a statement that Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit "praised this important step and described it as a great national achievement that would prove security and stability throughout the Libyan state."

The Acting Head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya, Stephanie Williams, announced that the nationwide ceasefire agreement reached by the two parties to the Libyan conflict on Friday will enter into force immediately.

The agreement also means that all forces on the front lines will return to their bases, while foreign fighters will have to leave Libya.

Libya has descended into chaos since a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed former President Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

It is currently witnessing a power struggle between the United Nations-recognized Government of National Accord and its headquarters in Tripoli on the one hand, and an authority in the east of the country embodied by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, who is supported by part of the elected parliament and its president, Aguila Saleh. The two parties receive support from different countries.

The two parties to the conflict have intensified their negotiations in recent weeks in an effort to create the conditions for a permanent ceasefire.

Aboul Gheit called on the Libyan brothers to seize this pivotal event in order to resolve the Libyan crisis on all its other tracks (...) and to prepare for the holding of presidential and legislative elections.