Libyan presidential council starts talks to line-up new cabinet after previous one rejected

The Libyan Presidential Council members have started on Thursday talks aiming to form a new unity government as proposed under a UN-sponsored agreement to end the country's political division in the Moroccan city of Skhirat.

These talks comes after the previous cabinet was rejected by the Tobruk-based House of Representatives (HoR), Libya's internationally-recognized law body.

According to a UN-brokered deal signed in December by representatives of various parties taking part in the inter-Libyan dialogue, a new government should be based in Tripoli, and should win the HoR's endorsement.

Moroccan officials told Xinhua that the talks are being held behind closed doors.

At a session at the parliament headquarters in the eastern city of Tubruk on Jan. 25, 89 out of 104 members voted against the proposed new government.

They said the government included too many posts, and that the Tunis-based Presidential Council now has 10 days to put forward a new, shorter list of ministers.

On January 19, the Tunis-based Libyan presidential council, which was formed under the UN agreement, announced a government of national accord which is to be consisted of 32 ministers and four deputy prime ministers.

Libya suffers a political crisis with two rival parliaments and governments battling for legitimacy amid escalating violence and increased dominance of militant extremism. Since the fall of former leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, the north African country has been struggling to make a political transition. Endit