UN envoy to Libya says never been so close to consensual agreement to end war

Head of the UN Support Mission to Libya Bernardino Leon said on Wednesday that parties of the Libyan peace talks in Morocco had never been so close to a consensual deal to end the war.

"We have never been so close to a text that we believe, as the United Nations, that can be acceptable for all the participants," Leon told reporters in the Moroccan city of Skhirat, where the new round of Libyan political dialogue has been ongoing since Thursday.

On the new UN-brokered agreement given to the parties on Sunday, he stressed that it should not have "winners or losers."

"If someone is thinking that there will be clear winners and clear losers, this person wouldn't be understanding what we are trying to do," he said.

Leon acknowledged that there are concerns over whether the text of the UN deal should be changed or not, saying that the UN facilitation would find "a formula to accommodate the different views." The gap between the parties is "not that big" and could be easily bridged, he added.

On Tuesday, Libya's internationally recognized House of Representatives rejected any new amendments to the UN proposed peace agreement, saying it would withdraw its dialogue team from Skhira.

The UN Support Mission in Libya has sponsored several political dialogues between the country's political rivals for months in order to end the country's ongoing crisis.

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. Endit