2 yıl önce

Libya’s rivals fail to reach deal in election negotiations: UN

UN special adviser on Libya Stephanie Williams urged Libyan officials to convene within 10 days to bridge the gaps between the two sides.

AP

Libya has been split between rival administrations in the east and west, each supported by different militias and foreign governments, since Muammar Gadhafi was toppled in 2011.

Rival Libyan factions have failed to reach an agreement after wrapping up a third round of UN-mediated talks in Egypt, the United Nations has said, further complicating international efforts to find a way out of the country’s decade-old chaos.

UN special adviser on Libya Stephanie Williams said on Monday that lawmakers from Libya’s east-based parliament and the High Council of State, based in the capital of Tripoli, concluded their final round of negotiations on constitutional amendments for elections late on Sunday in Cairo without a breakthrough.

The talks, which stared on June 12, had sought to establish a constitutional framework for elections in Libya, but the two sides failed to agree on “the measures governing the transitional period” leading to the vote, William said in a statement.

She called on Aguila Saleh, the parliament speaker of Tobruk-based House of Representatives, and Khaled al Meshri, head of the Tripoli-based council to convene within 10 days to try and bridge the gaps between the two sides. She did not elaborate.

Libyan media reports claimed that the main contested topic was the criteria for a presidential candidacy.

Major blow to international efforts

The Tripoli-based council insisted on banning military personal from running for the country’s top post - apparently a move directed at warlord Khalifa Haftar.

Haftar had announced his bid in elections slated for last December. That vote was not held because of myriad issues, including controversial hopefuls and disputes about election laws.

During the talks in Cairo, the east-based lawmakers called for allowing military personnel to run in a subsequent vote.

The failure to hold the vote in December was a major blow to international efforts to end a decade of chaos in Libya, where rival administrations are now claiming power after tentative steps toward unity last year.

The oil-rich Libya has been wrecked by conflict since a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

The country was then for years split between rival administrations in the east and west.

SOURCE: AP