Rival forces in Libya have agreed on a permanent nationwide ceasefire including the departure of all foreign fighters and mercenaries from the country for a minimum of three months.

The acting head of the United Nations mission in Libya, Stephanie Williams, said; “This is a good day for the Libyan people,”

She also saluted the courage and patriotism of the negotiators who made the deal at UN-sponsored talks in Geneva between military officers representing forces in the east and west of the country.

“The parties have signed a complete countrywide permanent agreement with immediate effect.

 “The parties agreed to the departure of all mercenaries and foreign fighters from Libyan territory, air, land and seas for three months,” Williams said.

She also said that the armed forces would be reintegrated into a single body, and that this would start with the categorisation and identification of all armed units, whether integrated or not within the main forces on either side.

She stated that although there has been a de facto ceasefire on the ground, the scale of the announced ceasefire and the plans to bring together police and security forces into a joint operations centre is a remarkable advance, at least on paper.

 The ceasefire includes the full opening of land and air routes, efforts to curb hate speech, an exchange of prisoners and plans to reconstruct the Petroleum Facilities Guard, an oil company and militia body linked to the eastern warlord General Khalifa Haftar that is seen as a threat to the stable flow of oil from Libya.

Although previous ceasefires have been agreed and broken in Libya with frequency, Williams cited the seniority of the military officers singing the agreement. “We should not let the cynics win. If they can reconcile after this long crisis they deserve our support,” she said.

Williams said she had heard optimistic suggestions from the military negotiators that the Ra’s Lanuf refinery and Es Sider oil terminal in eastern Libya would be opened shortly. El Sharara oilfield, Libya’s biggest, resumed operations on 11 October. It is operating at more than half its 300,000 barrels-a-day capacity.

Many oilfields have been shut for a year, depriving the Libyan treasury of billions of dollars in revenue. But with the projected further openings, the country’s production could now reach 1m bpd.