Europe calls for humanitarian truce in Libya as fighting surges

The foreign ministers of Germany, France and Italy and the EU's top diplomat made a joint call on Saturday for a humanitarian truce in Libya, saying all sides must resume peace talks.

"We want to unite our voices to those of the UN Secretary-General (Antonio) Guterres and his Acting Special Representative for Libya, Stephanie Turco Williams, in their call for a humanitarian truce in Libya," the statement said.

"We call on all the Libyan actors to get inspired by the spirit of the Holy Ramadan, engage in resuming talks for a genuine ceasefire," said the statement, signed by the EU's Josep Borrell, France's Jean-Yves Le Drian, Italy's Luigi di Maio and Heiko Maas of Germany.

Libya's conflict escalated sharply this month, with fierce fighting on several different fronts in the west of the country despite urgent calls from the UN and aid agencies for a truce to...