The United Nations said yesterday talks with Libya’s warring factions had made progress and delegates would return to Morocco next week to have more negotiations after consultations at home on forming a unity government.
Western leaders are backing the UN talks as the only way to end the turmoil in Libya, where two rival governments and armed factions are battling for control and Islamist militants have gained ground in the chaos that followed Muammar Gaddafi’s ouster four years ago.
UN-backed talks in Morocco aim to achieve a unity government and a lasting ceasefire and put Libya’s democratic transition back on track. But both factions face internal divisions over the negotiations and fighting continues.
Delegates will return to Morocco for more talks on Wednesday after discussing proposals with their supporters in Libya, the United Nations mission to Libya said in a statement.
Representatives from the two sides met in Morocco together for the first time. In previous rounds of talks they have met with UN delegates separately.
“There was a meeting between the two parties which was symbolic, it was not part of the talks, but symbols count, it was important,” UN envoy Bernardino Leon said after the meetings.
Sharif al-Waf, an independent delegate taking part in the talks, told Reuters both sides would discuss a proposed list of possible leaders to head up a unity government.
The internationally-recognised government of Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni has operated out of eastern Libya since a rival armed faction called Libya Dawn took over Tripoli in fighting last summer and set up its own administration.
Both factions face internal division over the negotiations
Meanwhile, up to 10 foreign workers are missing after a militant attack on a Libyan oil field and there is a possibility they have been taken hostage, Czech and Libyan officials have said.
Foreigners have increasingly become targets in Libya’s turmoil.
Czech Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek said the workers missing after the assault earlier this week on Al-Ghani field, included a Czech and an Austrian and others from Bangladesh and the Philippines.
“We are examining the possibility that a kidnapping has taken place,” Zaoralek told Reuters.
Libya’s oil security forces said on Friday they had retaken control of the oilfield after Islamist militants attacked the facility, killing 11 guards. Several of those were beheaded, one official said..
Zaoralek said there had been no contact with any group claiming responsibility, adding that his ministry was certain the Czech citizen had not been killed during the attack. Libya’s state oil company said at least seven foreigners including an Austrian, a Czech, Filipinos and a national of an African country were missing after the al-Ghani attack.
“Foreigners from an Austrian oil services company, operating in the field, are still missing since the attack. We do not know their fate,” National Oil Corporation spokesman Mohamed El-Hariri said.
In Vienna, a foreign ministry spokesman said a 39-year-old Austrian working for an oilfield management company had gone missing after an attack in Libya. Both the Czech and Austrian governments have assembled crisis groups to tackle the situation.
A Czech official is expected to travel to the region soon.
Western governments are backing UN negotiations to end the crisis in Libya, worried that the large North African state just across the Mediterranean from mainland Europe is becoming a haven for Islamist militants. Libyan militants claiming loyalty to Islamic State in Iraq and Syria have been blamed for high-profile attacks this year involving foreigners, including an assault on a Tripoli hotel and the beheading of a group of Egyptian Christians.
Militants this month also stormed and damaged several Libyan oilfields around al-Ghani, forcing the government to declare force majeure, pull out workers and shut down production on 11 oilfields in the central Sirte basin.