New round of Libyan peace talks to kick off on Monday

The United Nations announced on Thursday that a new round of peace talks between the Libyan conflicting parties will be held on Monday in Morocco.

The new round talks came after extensive consultations with relevant Libyan stakeholders and international partners, the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) said in a statement.

In the statement, the UN Envoy Bernardino Leon urged the main parties to redouble their efforts and to narrow existing differences and forge a common platform that can be the basis for a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Libya.

It added that Leon acknowledged that while some of the parties continue to have reservations about what has been achieved to date, it is important for all the parties to continue working on jointly addressing and resolving these concerns within the framework of the dialogue process.

He stressed the fact that any final political settlement will also include "guarantees designed to reassure the different parties regarding any outstanding concerns they might have."

During the last round, which was held in July in the absence of the Tripoli-based General National Congress (GNC), the Tubrok-based parliament alongside representatives of political parties, municipalities and civil society groups agreed on the UN brokered political agreement.

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