The United Nations (UN) Security Council called on Libya's warring sides to quickly reach a ceasefire that would pave the way for a political process aimed at ending conflict in the oil-rich state on Tuesday.  

The UN meeting followed up on a weekend Libya summit held in Berlin, which saw the formation of a military commission that is supposed to define ways of consolidating a cessation of hostilities. It is to comprise five members each from the UN-recognized government in Tripoli and its opponents loyal to military strongman Khalifa Haftar.  

"The members of the Security Council urged the Libyan parties to engage constructively in the five + five military commission in order to conclude a ceasefire agreement as soon as possible," the Council said.  

The North African country has been torn by fighting between rival armed factions since a 2011 NATO-backed uprising killed former leader Moamer Kadhafi and toppled his government. Since April last year the UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli has fought back against an offensive by fighters loyal to Haftar. 

The day before, the international conference Haftar's forces blocked oil exports from Libya's main ports. The move to cripple the country's primary income source was to protest Turkey's decision to send troops to shore up the Tripoli-based government.  

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday the country had not yet sent any troops into Libya, noting that Ankara had only deployed military advisers and trainers so far. 

The military commission is expected to meet in the coming days, according to the UN, tasked with turning an existing fragile ceasefire into a permanent truce as requested by the international leaders in Berlin.  

The ceasefire was co-sponsored by Russia and Turkey and has broadly held since it went into effect on January 12. 

The main countries concerned promised in Berlin to no longer interfere in Libyan affairs and to respect an arms embargo imposed in 2011 but which has been violated.  

Yang Jiechi, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, attended the conference and called for an immediate and comprehensive ceasefire in Libya, adding that parties concerned should restart dialogue and reconciliation as soon as possible. 

At the end of the Security Council meeting, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters that "there's still a long way to go". He said truce violations have not been widespread. "We need to move to a ceasefire, and from the ceasefire, we need to move to a real political process and we are not yet there."  

(With input from AFP, Xinhua)