Libyan parties to start talks on candidates for unity gov't: UN envoy

Libyan parties on Thursday will start discussions on candidates for the national unity government, head of the UN Support Mission to Libya (UNSMIL) Bernardino Leon said late Wednesday in Morocco.

"The UNSMIL agrees the moment has come for expediting talks and starting the discussion on the candidates for the national unity government," Leon told reporters in the Moroccan city of Skhirat, where the new round of Libyan political dialogue has been ongoing since last Thursday.

He said he hopes all the parties involved will be prepared to start the discussion and overcome the crisis in Libya "without impositions and in a spirit of cooperation."

The UNSMIL has proposed on Sunday a new UN-brokered agreement, and gave the General National Congress (GNC) negotiating team 48 hours to leave to Tripoli to submit the text and bring with them the names of their candidates for the unity government.

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

The UN-brokered political agreement was initialed in July by the Tubrok-based parliament alongside representatives of political parties, municipalities and civil society groups, whereas the GNC did not join the accord.

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 UNSMIL has sponsored several political dialogues between the country's political rivals for months in order to end the country's ongoing crisis. Endit