Militants who have controlled Tripoli for more than a decade have agreed to withdraw from the Libyan capital.
Interior Minister Imad Trabelsi, a member of the internationally recognized government, said after long negotiations an agreement had been reached for regular forces to monitor Tripoli.
He told journalists that only emergency police, city officials and criminal investigators would be deployed in their place.
The deal comes after a series of deadly crashes in the city in recent months.
Libya is plagued by a number of armed groups that emerged after the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
A series of armed uprisings that led to the assassination of the longtime dictator created a security vacuum that has left much of the country lawless and chaotic ever since.
Libya is currently divided between the internationally recognized Western government, led by Tripoli’s interim Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, and the eastern government, led by military strongman Khalifa Haftar.
At a press conference,
In a press conference, Mr Trabelsi said from now on the militia’s “place is in their headquarters”, adding the Libyan government “will use them only in exceptional circumstances for specific missions”.
He said once they had left the capital other cities would follow, noting there “will be no more checkpoints and no more armed groups” on roads.
The agreement requires at least five armed groups to leave Tripoli by April 9, the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, including one based in the area where 10 people were killed over the weekend. I’m looking for it.
The militias in question -the General Security Forces, Special Deterrence Forces, 444th Brigade, 111th Brigade, and Stability Support Directorate -are heavily armed and have separated large parts of the city from each other.
The group’s visible presence in Tripoli has led them to wear masks and set up checkpoints on the streets with armoured vehicles and mounted weapons.
But they have often been drawn into fighting with each other, including an incident in August that left 55 people dead and nearly 150 injured.
They are not under the direct leadership of the Libyan government but receive public funding. Their operational independence was recognized through the special status granted by the government in 2021.