Libya Close to Agreement on National Unity Government Formation

The UN's envoy to Libya said that Libya is “getting very close” to an agreement on the formation of a national unity government.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Libya is “getting very close” to an agreement on the formation of a national unity government, the UN News Centre cited Bernardino Leon, the organization's envoy to Libya, as saying on Friday.

The latest round of UN-brokered peace talks aiming to resolve the political turmoil in Libya concluded on Thursday in Morocco’s capital Rabat.

Leon said that the peace talks went “well beyond what we expected," because the scope of issues on the agenda was reduced, adding the all sides feel they are "really getting very close to the agreement.”

Leon added that the rival Libyan political factions (the UN-recognized government in Tobruk and Tripoli-based General National Congress) reached consensus on the need to put an end to the arms escalation and to search for political solutions to the crisis.

The peace talks which began on March 6, 2015 were on the verge of collapse on Saturday as the government in Tobruk conducted air strikes against airports and a military base in Libya’s capital Tripoli, controlled by the General National Congress (GNS). It was reported that a senior commander loyal to the GNS was killed during the airstrikes.

The next rounds of the peace talks will take place in Algeria and Brussels in the next few weeks.

Libya has been plagued by violence since 2011 when a NATO-backed uprising toppled longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi.