La United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) issued a statement highlighting the results of the first phase of the talks of the joint military committee composed of 5 senior officers of the National Accord Government (GNA) and 5 of the Libyan National Army (LNA). The talks took place in Geneva, in the presence of the UN special envoy Ghassan Salamè and his deputy and in charge of Political Affairs Stephanie Williams on 3 February.
The Mission, writes Libia.it, indicated the existence of a "broad consensus between the two parties on the urgent need for Libyans to preserve sovereignty and territorial integrity of Libya and to preserve and protect its borders, as well as the need to refrain from engaging the national decision and the country's capabilities with any external power, as well as to stop the flow of non-Libyan fighters and remove them from their Libyan territories, including terrorist groups designated by the United Nations: Al-Qaeda, ISIS and Ansar al-Sharia".
UNSMIL has revealed that the two sides support the ongoing trial of exchange of prisoners and return of corpses of the dead in battle, they also agreed on the need to speed up the return of IDPs to their homesespecially in the fighting areas. The military representatives of the LNA and GNA, confirming the need to continue negotiations to reach a global agreement on the ceasefire, are expected to meet in Geneva on February 18 for a new round of negotiations.