The United Nations will be forced to intervene with concrete action in Libya unless an agreement is reached between the different factions and militias, Bernardino Leon, the head of the United Nation’s support mission in Libya said.

Contacted by One Radio for his comments this morning, Mr Leon said Libya was on the verge of collapse and although all options were on the table, an agreement with all stakeholders should be a priority.

The time had come for the political talks being held to produce results. However, if this failed, the security council would ask the UN to fill the vacuum that would have been created with concrete action and decisions, Mr Leon said.

He called on Libyans to recommit to the revolution’s goals of building a democratic state based on human rights and the rule of law and to agree to the formation of a national unity government.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat last week welcomed an announcement by Italy that it would be ready to join a UN-led force to battle an active terrorist threat in Libya.

Yesterday he said that Malta could be the contact point with the Libya people in this mission.

Following the slaughter of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians by Islamic State in Libya, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi yesterday also called for a United Nations resolution mandating an international coalition to intervene in Libya after its jets bombed IS targets there.

Until recently, the IS faction appeared to have limited power and to be confined mostly to the city of Derna.

The main power struggle in Libya, which has been the focus of UN talks, is between an internationally-recognised government and a rival administration set up in Tripoli after an armed faction seized the capital last summer.

Both are backed by brigades of fighters who helped oust veteran leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 but have since turned against one another in a complex conflict involving tribes, former Gaddafi troops, Islamist militants and federalist forces.