UN envoy says consensus reached on most of Libya draft agreement
Xinhua, June 29, 2015 Adjust font size:
Consensus has been reached on most of the elements of a United Nations draft peace agreement on Libya, a UN envoy said early Monday.
Bernardino Leon told a press conference following the latest UN-backed peace talks in Morocco that an agreement is possible on the main text of the political agreement.
In a landmark move, representatives from Libya's two rival parliaments, one based in Tripoli and the other in Tobruk, sat together in formal talks for the first time on Sunday.
Leon said the rival representatives will return to the Moroccan city of Skhirat on Wednesday for further talks.
"It will pave the way for the discussion on the unity government and on the annexes. And only when all this work is finished the parties will be in a position to sign this agreement," Leon said.
There are hopes that the latest round of talks would be the last between the country's conflicting parties.
Libya, a major oil producer in North Africa, has been witnessing a frayed political process after former leader Muammar Gaddafi was toppled during the 2011 political turmoil.
The country is now deadlocked in a dogfight between the pro-secular army and Islamist militants, which has led to a security vacuum for homegrown extremism to brew.
The UN has brokered several rounds of dialogues between the conflicting parties since last September, but clashes persisted despite a truce agreed by the warring factions. Endit