Libya : Libya groups start talks in Tunisia to launch new UN plan
on 2017/9/27 11:58:42
Libya

Click to see original Image in a new windowThe opposing sides of a conflict in Libya have begun a series of negotiations in neighboring Tunisia to officially launch a new plan by the United Nations to end the six-year-old turmoil in the country.

Reports said the meeting, which got closed to the press, began on Tuesday in Tunis after a speech by UN envoy Ghassan Salame, who urged the two sides to set aside their differences and complete their work in a timely fashion.

“All Libyans are fed up. They are going from transition to transition with no horizon,” said Salame as the talks convened, adding, “We have sleeping institutions that need to be awoken, divided institutions that need to be united, and hijacked institutions that need to be rebuilt.”

The negotiations come a week after Salame announced a one-year “action plan” for a transition toward presidential and parliamentary elections in Libya.

Delegations from rival parliaments from eastern Libya and Tripoli are supposed to talk about how to amend a previous UN-mediated plan signed in December 2015.

If the parties to the current talks success in drawing up amendments, a national conference would convene with the presence of a much larger number of representatives from across Libya. The conference would then select the members of a transitional government that would run the country until elections. Libya’s eastern parliament, or the House of Representatives (HOR), which is allied with the powerful military commander Khalifa Haftar, is tasked in the current scheme with devising laws for national elections. It should also engineer a referendum to approve Libya’s much-delayed constitution.

The UN-backed 2015 deal, which should undergo amendments in the current UN plan, led to the establishment of the Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli. The deal and the GNA itself have, however, failed to gain support from power-brokers in Libya and they are opposed by Haftar and militant factions associated with him.

Many say the turmoil in Libya, which started following the ouster and death of long-time dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, was instigated by Western governments as they initially endorsed an uprising against Gaddafi but then abandoned the oil-rich North African country in lawlessness and allowed militant groups to mushroom.

Previous article - Next article Printer Friendly Page Send this Story to a Friend Create a PDF from the article


Other articles
2023/7/22 15:36:35 - Uncertainty looms as negotiations on the US-Kenya trade agreement proceeds without a timetable
2023/7/22 13:48:23 - 40 More Countries Want to Join BRICS, Says South Africa
2023/7/18 13:25:04 - South Africa’s Putin problem just got a lot more messy
2023/7/18 13:17:58 - Too Much Noise Over Russia’s Influence In Africa – OpEd
2023/7/18 11:15:08 - Lagos now most expensive state in Nigeria
2023/7/18 10:43:40 - Nigeria Customs Intercepts Arms, Ammunition From US
2023/7/17 16:07:56 - Minister Eli Cohen: Nairobi visit has regional and strategic importance
2023/7/17 16:01:56 - Ruto Outlines Roadmap for Africa to Rival First World Countries
2023/7/17 15:47:30 - African heads of state arrive in Kenya for key meeting
2023/7/12 15:51:54 - Kenya, Iran sign five MoUs as Ruto rolls out red carpet for Raisi
2023/7/12 15:46:35 - Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues Gupta Travels to Kenya and Rwanda
2023/7/2 14:57:52 - We Will Protect Water Catchments
2023/7/2 14:53:49 - Kenya records slight improvement in global peace ranking
2023/7/2 13:33:37 - South Sudan, South Africa forge joint efforts for peace in Sudan
2023/7/2 12:08:02 - Tinubu Ready To Assume Leadership Role In Africa
2023/7/2 10:50:34 - CDP ranks Nigeria, others low in zero-emission race
2023/6/19 15:30:00 - South Africa's Ramaphosa tells Putin Ukraine war must end
2023/6/17 15:30:20 - World Bank approves Sh45bn for Kenya Urban Programme
2023/6/17 15:25:47 - Sudan's military govt rejects Kenyan President Ruto as chief peace negotiatorThe Sudanese military government of Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has rejected Kenyan President William Ruto's leadership of the "Troika on Sudan."
2023/6/17 15:21:15 - Kenya Sells Record 2.2m Tonnes of Carbon Credits to Saudi Firms

The comments are owned by the author. We aren't responsible for their content.