The Vietnamese ambassador, Dang Dinh Quy, who is the Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the United Nations, chaired the UN Security Council's informal interactive meeting on the situation in Libya on Thursday, and urged the parties concerned in Libya to fully comply with the ceasefire agreement signed on October 23, 2020 while appealing to the parties both inside and outside Libya to fully adhere to the Security Council's arms embargo on the country.

Ambassador Quy said the date for the withdrawal of mercenaries is a tough question as it needs many factors, especially "political willingness" by the member states that are involved in Libya to agree on pulling out their mercenaries, according to what The Associated Press has reported.

Diplomats told The Associated Press that the 15 member states had agreed that the withdrawal of foreign mercenaries from Libya was the only way to move forward, as some of them referred to the fact that those mercenaries were sent to Libya by certain Security Council member states.

The closed meeting of the Security Council saw heavy arguments between the US and Russia on the Libyan situation and especially on Wagner Group mercenaries, according to an earlier report by Agence France Presse (AFP).

AFP reported diplomats as saying that over 20.000 mercenaries are operating in Libya, including 13.000 Syrian and 11.000 Sudanese nationals, adding that no member state had talked about the start of withdrawing those foreign elements.

Two diplomatic sources told AFP that the 15 member states of the Security Council linked the withdrawal of foreign fighters and mercenaries from Libya to what happened in Chad, urging for swift removal of mercenaries and amendments to the Libyan security system that could start by integrating fighters into state institutions and monitoring the removal of foreign mercenaries.