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| - UN-led military talks between former Libyan rivals began Tuesday in the central city of Sirte, the UN said, the first meetings at the new headquarters of a joint committee. The talks follow a ceasefire deal last month between western-based unity government forces and those of eastern strongman Khalifa Haftar, which formally concluded more than a year of fighting. The joint military commission had agreed last week on steps towards implementing the deal. But the Tripoli-based unity government's military command on Tuesday accused mercenaries from a pro-Haftar Russian paramilitary group of preventing its delegation from landing. "The aircraft was not able to land at Sirte's Qardabiya airport because it is occupied by the Wagner mercenary gang which has installed anti-aircraft weapons and scrambling equipment there," GNA forces said in a tweet on Tuesday. It "did not and will not allow them to land," it added, saying the delegation had instead landed at an oil port 200 kilometres (125 miles) further east and headed to Sirte overland. Sirte, close to the ceasefire line, was the birthplace of longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi, whose overthrow and killing in a 2011 uprising plunged Libya into turmoil. Today, Libya is dominated by the Government of National Accord (GNA) in the west, and its eastern-based rival backed by Haftar. Haftar, supported by the United Arab Emirates and Russia, launched an offensive in April 2019 to seize Tripoli, but was pushed back in June by Turkey-backed pro-GNA forces, resulting in an August truce. The UN-led joint military committee of five officers from each side held their first meetings on Libyan soil last week, following meetings in Switzerland where they signed a "permanent" ceasefire deal. They agreed to make Sirte their headquarters and set up a sub-committee to oversee withdrawals and "the departure of foreign forces from the front lines", according to the UN. The Sirte talks, set to last until Friday, were "expected to complete discussions over a ceasefire implementation as well as the formation of specialised sub-committees," the UN said in a statement, without adding details. They take place in parallel with talks in neighbour Tunisia aimed at creating a government to prepare for elections as well as provide basic services to a country battered by war, economic crisis and the coronavirus pandemic. The 75 delegates in Gammarth, near Tunis, are tasked with appointing a three-member Presidency Council representing Libya's three historical regions and a prime minister to lead a separate Government of National Unity. But the way the delegates were chosen has sparked anger among Libyans. The Tripoli Protection Force, a major pro-GNA armed group, rejected the list as "excluding many military and political forces" in order to serve "a certain agenda", while eastern Libyans have accused the UN of including too many Islamists. "The tragedy is that those who destroyed the country are the people who are sitting and talking in the name of Libya," one Twitter user wrote in Libyan dialect of Arabic. bur-cnp-par/dv
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