By Jihad Nasr  

TRIPOLI

Consultations began Thursday in the Libyan cities of Benghazi and Zuwarah amid preparations for a fresh round of peace talks.

The consultations are being organized by the Center for Humanitarian Dialogue (CHD), a Geneva-based NGO.

CHD Councilor Omayya al-Seddiq told Anadolu Agency that consultations would consist of a series of open meetings with local political figures.

Recommendations made at the meetings will then be raised for discussion at national reconciliation talks, dates for which have yet to be set, according to al-Seddiq.

Libya has suffered a protracted political crisis since 2011, when a bloody NATO-backed uprising ended with the ouster and death of President Muammar Gaddafi after more than four decades in power.

Since then, the country’s stark political divisions have yielded two rival seats of power -- an interim government in the city of Al-Bayda and an internationally-recognized government in capital Tripoli -- along with a host of heavily-armed militia groups.

A UN-backed agreement in late 2015 failed to end the political standoff. That agreement is now in the process of being amended with a view to eventually holding parliamentary and presidential elections.