Libya's internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) and its rival authority Libyan National Army (LNA) led by Khalifa Haftar signed a permanent ceasefire agreement at the United Nations in Geneva on Friday. The agreement takes effect immediately. The UN called it "a historical achievement" and an "important turning point towards peace and stability in Libya".

Libya has been in ongoing military conflicts since 2011, after the killing of former leader Muammar Gaddafi. The country has been split between the GNA which is based in the capital, Tripoli, in western Libya and Haftar's forces which mostly controlled the east and south since 2014.

As one of the largest oil producers in Africa, Libya also raised a battle over oil facilities, exports, and drilling rights among the foreign powers. Turkey is the main supporter of the GNA, while the United Arab Emirates, Russia and Egypt support Haftar.

According to the UN envoy, the agreement called for frontline forces to return to their camps and required all mercenaries and foreign forces to leave Libya within three months.

All military training inside the country will be suspended until a new unified government assumes its functions.

Both parties also agreed to form a joint limited military force and establish a mechanism to jointly monitor the implementation of the agreement.  The two parties also reconfirmed their commitment to support confidence building measures with regards to opening land and air routes across the country.

Shortly after the agreement was signed, a passenger jet flew across front lines from Libya's capital Tripoli for the first time in more than a year.

Since summer 2019, commercial flights between Benghazi and Tripoli have suspended for security reasons.

An official in eastern Libya said on Friday that oil exports from Es Sider port, the country's largest oil port will resume within the coming days.

LNA General Haftar halted most of the oil production and blocked oil ports in January, aiming to dry up the funding sources of the GNA.

But Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was not optimistic about the ceasefire deal, since the peace talks were between five senior officers appointed by GNA and five senior officers appointed by LNA.

"Today's ceasefire agreement was actually not made at the highest level, it was at a lower level. Time will tell whether it will last," Erdogan told reporters in Istanbul.

Jason Pack, a fellow at the Middle East Institute echoed Erdogan's views in an Al Jazeera report.

"He understands Libya is a multi-dimensional chess game…They haven't dealt with the underlying issues, the second and third degrees of the chess game, how revenues are to be divided, who's to run the different semi-sovereign institutions, how do we have an interim period… all of that remains in abeyance because it hasn't been discussed," Pack said.

The ceasefire agreement is a three-point plan that tracks security, political and economic progress that could help resolve the conflicts in Libya. Peace talks are an important first step. 

The Libyan Political Dialogue Forum will be held in Tunisia in November, aiming to "generate consensus on a unified governance framework and arrangements that will lead to the holding of national elections," the UN mission said.  

"There is still no clear sign that Libyan belligerents are looking at this as anything other than a period of posturing and positioning," Tarek Megerisi, a policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations told Reuters.

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