TRIPOLI: The UN mission in Libya is hoping to convene a political dialogue next week aimed at resolving months of crisis in the country where rival governments are vying for power. Oil-rich Libya has been rocked by political instability since a Nato-backed uprising toppled and killed veteran dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
Three years later, Prime Minister Abdullah Al Thainni’s government and the internationally recognised parliament elected in June are being challenged by rival, Islamist-backed, administrations.The country is also being torn apart by fighting between Islamist and nationalist militias.
The UN mission, UNSMIL, in a statement, said it would call on the different parties to meet on September 29 for an “initial round” of talks aimed at ending the strife.
“This dialogue would be based on the legitimacy of the elected institutions, respect for the Constitutional Declaration, inclusiveness, respect for human rights and international law, and a clear rejection of terrorism,” it said. The Al Thainni government and the parliament elected in June are in virtual domestic exile in the far eastern city of Tobruk.
They moved there in August for security reasons when Islamist-backed militias captured most of the capital, Tripoli, and second city Benghazi in the east.
Since then, the dissolved interim parliament, or General National Congress (GNC), has been reinstated in Tripoli and a rival government named under Omar Al Hassi.
The dialogue is aimed at reaching a “framework agreement on the rules of procedures of the house of representatives” and another on “the critical issues relating to the governance of the country”, UNSMIL said.
Meanwhile, the Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that the United Nations supports the “mediation role played by Algeria for the stabilisation of the situation in Libya, in Mali and in the Sahel region”.Agencies
