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The
U.N.-backed 5+5 committee drawn from commander Khalifa Haftar's
eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) and western-based
forces that have supported Tripoli-based governments said in a
statement the road was open from 0900 GMT.
It was not open to military traffic, the committee said, and the
agreement also included some preparatory steps for the
withdrawal of foreign fighters, another part of last year's
ceasefire that has still to be implemented.
The slow progress in opening the road has reflected other
stumbles in the U.N.-backed effort to resolve Libya's long
conflict with a ceasefire, a unity government, proposed
elections and moves to unify economic institutions.
The Government of National Unity (GNU), picked through a
U.N.-aided process early this year and then ratified by the
divided, eastern-based parliament, took office in March.
However, since that point there has been little agreement on key
steps forwards including on a constitutional basis for the
elections scheduled in December and for the GNU's budget.
Critics of parliament speaker Aguila Saleh, allied with Haftar
during his 2019-20 assault on Tripoli, regard the delays as
evidence that eastern-based forces are attempting to sabotage
the process.
Saleh and his allies in eastern Libya meanwhile accused the GNU
of becoming "a Tripoli government" and blamed it for the failure
to unify institutions.
Last week Saleh warned that a failure to hold elections meant
another rival administration could be set up in the east.
(Reporting by Reuters Libya newsroom; writing by Angus McDowall;
Editing by Alison Williams, William Maclean)
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