Libya’s warring factions who operate rival governments have agreed “in principle” to move future negotiations on ending the crisis from Geneva back to the war-ravaged country, the United Nations said yesterday.
Some of the opposing factions met in Geneva earlier this week under UN auspices, but key representatives from the Tripoli-based government stayed away, demanding the dialogue be held within Libya.
“There was agreement on the principle of convening future dialogue sessions in Libya, provided that logistical and security conditions are available,” the UN Mission for Libya (UNSMIL) said in a statement after another round of talks in Geneva. It gave no date or venue.
Libya, in turmoil since a Nato-backed revolt ousted Muammar Gaddafi nearly four years ago, has two rival governments and parliaments, each backed by armed factions which Western governments fear are dragging the oil-producing nation into full-blown civil war.
Underlining the precarious security situation, heavily armed gunmen on Wednesday stormed a luxury hotel in Tripoli, killing at least nine people, including foreigners, before blowing themselves up with a grenade.
Participants from different groups spontaneously sang Libyan national anthem
Libya’s internationally-recognised government under Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni and its elected House of Representatives are now based in the east of the country after a group called Libya Dawn seized Tripoli last summer, set up its own administration and reinstated the old parliament.
The Tripoli-based parliament, the General National Congress (GNC), welcomed the Geneva statement and said it would end a boycott of the negotiations declared after Thinni’s forces seized a central bank branch in the eastern city of Benghazi . Thinni’s government said it was only “securing” the bank, which controls vital oil revenues.
The GNC’s second deputy president, Saleh Mahzoum, said each side should now nominate four delegates for a resumption of political talks which began last September.
Despite the formidable obstacles in the way of forming a national unity government in Libya, diplomats brought members of Libyan city and regional councils together in Geneva yesterday to discuss ways to end violence on the ground. UN Special Envoy Bernadino Leon said the participants were working together “in very good spirits”, even though many come from areas that are fighting each other. Despite their differences, they later posed for a group photograph and spontaneously sang the Libyan national anthem.
One delegate from Tripoli told Reuters the meeting had agreed to set up committees to build confidence by working together on abducted and displaced people, the media, airports and borders.
The Maltese Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement last night that Malta had been following all efforts by Leon to bring to the negotiating table all Libyan parties and military factions together to reach some kind of agreement to stop the bloodshed and set up a provisional national government in Libya in order to be able to move towards national reconciliation.
The government applauded Leon’s continual efforts in this line and was satisfied that, little by little, the move towards dialogue seemed to be improving. However, the important and decisive contribution by the National Congress of Tripoli was still missing and it seemed that the UN special envoy still had to convince the Tripoli group in this regard.The Maltese government encourages the authorities in Tripoli to overcome any difficulties and join the talks.
The Foreign Ministry reiterated that Malta was willing to offer all its services and facilities to Leon and also to present or prospective participants in the UN talks so that, hopefully, peace should finally reign in Libya.