Libyan parliament re-enters UN peace dialogue

Published March 3rd, 2015 - 09:00 GMT
Al Bawaba
Al Bawaba

Libya's Tobruk-based parliament voted to re-enter UN-sponsored peace negotiations between the country's warring camps, a lawmaker has said.

"The parliament on Monday voted unanimously to resume the negotiations between parties to the Libyan crisis," MP Abu Bakr Baeera told The Anadolu Agency.

He said that the parliament's vote came following a visit by Bernardino Leon, the UN's special envoy to Libya, to Toburk city in which he met Parliament Speaker Aguila Saleh and other MPs.

Late last month, Libya's internationally-recognized House of Representatives suspended its participation in the talks following deadly suicide attacks in the eastern Qubbah city which left 44 people killed.

Daesh, the Arabic acronym for Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militant group, had claimed responsibility for the attacks.

The UN-sponsored peace talks had been planned to be held in Morocco last week, but were delayed after the Tobruk-based House of Representatives suspended its participation.

Libya has remained in a state of turmoil since a bloody uprising ended the decades-long rule of autocratic leader Muammar Gaddafi in late 2011.

Since then, the country's sharp political divisions have yielded two rival seats of government, each with its own institutions.

Vying for legislative authority are the Tobruk-based parliament and Islamist-led General National Congress, the latter of which – even though its mandate ended last year – continues to convene in Tripoli.

The two assemblies support the two different governments, respectively headquartered in the two cities.

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