SKHIRAT, Morocco
The final two days of talks between Libya’s rival political camps -- which aim to finalize a settlement ready for signing -- will be held on Sept. 3 and 4 in Geneva, the U.N. announced on Friday.
According to a U.N. statement, the last round of dialogue between Libya’s rival governments, respectively based in the cities of Tripoli and Tobruk, will be facilitated by the U.N. Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) and the U.N. secretary-general’s special representative for Libya Bernardino Leon.
“Time is fast running out for Libya as it faces continuing bloodletting, a growing Daesh terrorist threat and a collapsing currency,” Leon warned.
Leon stressed that the leaders of both camps had to set aside their differences and work towards the speedy adoption of a national unity government, as is laid out in the proposed agreement.
Since March, dozens of people have been killed by Daesh in the coastal city of Sirte, which fell to the militant group earlier this year, prompting Libya’s Tobruk-based government to appeal to the Cairo-based Arab League for aid against the militant group.
“This [national unity] government [called for in the agreement], in partnership with the international community and the overwhelming support of the Libyan people, will be able to address Libya’s problems, combat terrorism, restore stability and put the country back on the road to economic recovery,” Leon asserted.
Leon described talks held last week in Morocco as having been held “in a positive and constructive atmosphere, underscoring the participants’ deep conviction that finalizing the political agreement was a matter of extreme urgency”.
Libya descended into chaos following the ouster and death of strongman Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. In the four years since, the country’s stark political divisions have produced two rival seats of government in Tobruk and Tripoli, each with its own political institutions and military capacities.
In January, UNSMIL launched a political dialogue process ostensibly aimed at ending ongoing conflict in the troubled North African country.
