New round of Libyan political dialogue to convene in Geneva

Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya and Head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) Bernardino Leon on Thursday announced that a new round of dialogue talks will be convened on Aug. 10 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

The decision came after Leon held extensive consultations with relevant Libyan stakeholders and international partners.

Underscoring the significant progress achieved to date within the framework of the dialogue process, Leon urged the main parties to redouble their efforts and continue working together towards narrowing existing differences and forging a common platform that can form the basis for a peaceful resolution of the political and military conflict in Libya.

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

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

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