UN urges Libyans to halt fighting, battle virus

The United Nations and nine countries have called on Libya's warring parties to cease hostilities to allow health authorities to fight against the new coronavirus.

In a joint statement on Tuesday, the ambassadors of Algeria, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Britain and the United states, as well as the European Union delegation to Libya and the governments of Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates called for a "humanitarian truce".

They called on the warring parties to "declare an immediate, humanitarian cessation of hostilities... to allow local authorities to respond to the unprecedented public health challenge posed by COVID-19."