Agreement expected on Libyan unity gov't: UN envoy

The UN envoy on Libyan crisis said late Tuesday that a proposal for a Libyan unity government is expected to be agreed upon.

The two main parties in Libya's political dialogue, the General National Congress (GNC) and Libya's internationally recognized House of Representatives (HoR), are expected to mutually accept their proposed names for the two deputy prime minister posts, according to Bernardino Leon, head of the UN Support Mission to Libya (UNSMIL).

The two parties will also propose a consensus prime minister and two senior ministers along with other participants in Libya's political dialogue, Leon said, adding UNSMIL is expecting an agreement on the Libyan government by the end of this week in the Moroccan city of Skhirat.

He said that the only element pending in the final text of the political agreement is that the Libyan parties should agree on five names of the Presidential Council.

Leon resumed Monday his talks with Libyan warring parties two weeks after the talks were adjourned for the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha.

At the closing of the last round of talks, he insisted that the final deadline for signing of the agreement not go beyond Oct. 20, when the mandate of the HoR expires.

The UN-brokered Libyan political agreement was initiated in July by the Tobruk-based HoR alongside representatives of political parties, municipalities and civil society groups, but the GNC did not join the accord.

UNSMIL has sponsored several rounds of 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