Libyan citizen killed over landmine explosion in Benghazi

The Benghazi municipality announced, on Sunday evening, that it has agreed with the deputy head of the UN mission in the country to reopen a headquarters for the mission in the city during the coming period. 

This was during meetings held by the Mayor of Benghazi, Abdel Rahman Al-Abbar and the accompanying delegation in Tunis with Maria de Valle Ribeiro, Deputy Head of the United Nations Mission in Libya(UNMIL), in the presence of the Director of the Political Section of the Mission, Mou'ein Shreim, on Thursday and Friday, according to a statement issued by the municipality this evening.

The statement said that Al-Abbar agreed with Ribeiro during the meetings to reopen the mission's office in Benghazi in the near future without specifying a date. According to the statement, the both sides agreed on forming a security team followed the UNMIL to visit the city of Benghazi, to assess the situation after the announcement of liberation from the hands of terrorist groups.

During the meetings, the two sides agreed to periodic visits by UNMIL and a number of their representatives to the city of Benghazi. The aim of these visits is to assess the environmental and health conditions in the city, especially in the areas of aL-Sabri, the center of the country and the whale market, according to the statement.

 For its part, the UNMIL pledged to continue support in the maintenance of educational institutions, and the provision of medicines to some hospitals, including Al-Jalaa Hospital for surgery and accidents. The two sides also discussed during the meetings the stages of the political dialogue, and the accompanying disadvantages that led to a dead end in the implementation of the political agreement.

Like all Western and Arab diplomatic missions, the UN mission left Libyan territory in the direction of Tunisia immediately after the outbreak of armed fighting in a number of Libyan cities, especially Tripoli and Benghazi in 2014.

 In Paris, a military source announced that the army commander in eastern Libya, Khalifa Hafer and the head of the Libyan government backed by the United Nations,  Fayez al-Sarraj plan to meet on Tuesday for talks under French auspices to resolve the crisis.

 Haftar and Al-Sarraj held talks in Abu Dhabi in May for the first time in more than a year and a half. The talks dealt with UN-backed agreement and Libya's partners in the West hope to end the split.

On the other hand, a civilian was killed by a landmine explosion in the center of the country in the eastern city of Benghazi.