Libya rivals closer to deal after first face-to-face meet

SKHIRAT, Morocco — Delegates from Libya’s rival parliaments met face-to-face on Sunday for the first time since UN-brokered peace talks were launched in January aimed at forming a unity government.

“Libyan dialogue participants hold first joint working meeting in Skhirat Morocco on Sunday 28 June,” said a tweet on the official website of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL).

Participants said delegates had overcome many differences and could initial a draft agreement later Sunday, but that a final deal still had to be approved by the parliaments in Libya.

The UN has tried for months to broker a compromise in Libya, which descended into lawlessness after the 2011 NATO-backed overthrow of veteran autocrat Muammar Qadhafi.

The oil-rich nation has rival governments and parliaments, and jihadist groups and militants have seized on the chaos to make strategic gains.

On Sunday, members of the elected Tobruk parliament and rivals from the Tripoli-based legislature sat at the same negotiating table for the first time since the talks began in January, participants said.

Civil society figures and independents also joined the meeting that came as UN envoy Bernardino Leon pushes the two sides to agree a deal on a unity government.

“Today’s meeting was positive. There are many common points of view” on the draft deal presented by Leon, said Saleh Al Makhzoum, a representative of the Tripoli-based parliament.

Abu Bakr Baira, a deputy from the internationally recognised parliament in Tobruk, told journalists “there is agreement on most of the issues”.

He said the two sides were expected “to initial a written document that narrows down diverging views” later Sunday.

“After the document is initialled, everyone will return to their bases in order to obtain final approval” for the draft deal, said Tawfik Chahibi of the Tripoli parliament.

Chahibi expected the delegates to return to Morocco later to finalise the deal, but said they would need “two to three weeks” to review everything before a final agreement could be signed.

The draft being discussed is the fourth such proposal made by Leon to delegates gathered in the resort town of Skhirat.

The UN Security Council has urged Libya’s internationally recognised government and the Fajr Libya militia alliance that set up the Tripoli administration to sign a deal to stem rising violence and the growth of extremist organisations such as the Daesh group on Europe’s doorstep.