TRIPOLI - Renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar's forces have dismissed a ceasefire announcement by Libya's internationally recognised government as a "marketing" stunt.
Ahmed Mismari, spokesman for Haftar's self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA), said on Sunday rival forces from the war-torn country's west were mobilising around front lines in the centre of the country.
In a media briefing, he said the eastern-based forces were ready to respond to any attempted attack on its positions around the coastal city of Sirte and Jufra, further inland.
Mismari's comments were the first by the LNA after the announcement on Friday of a ceasefire and a call for the resumption of oil production by the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA), headed by Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj.
"The initiative that al-Sarraj signed is for media marketing," Mismari said. "There is a military build-up and the transfer of equipment to target our forces in Sirte," he added.
"If al-Sarraj wanted a ceasefire, he would have drawn his forces back, not advanced towards our units in Sirte."