The United Nations Security Council is pictured during a meeting about the situation in Libya in the Manhattan borough of New York. Picture: Carlo Allegri The United Nations Security Council is pictured during a meeting about the situation in Libya in the Manhattan borough of New York. Picture: Carlo Allegri
Skhirat, Morocco - The UN special envoy to Libya insisted Friday that Libyan peace talks were still on track despite the absence of delegates from the internationally-recognized parliament.
Bernardino Leon told The Associated Press as he was entering the conference center near the Moroccan capital of Rabat that the representatives of Libya's Tobruk parliament could be back within days.
“They are adding new members to their delegation and this is something we have accepted and they have said they need time to prepare,” Leon said.
The fate of the talks were thrown into doubt when the Tobruk delegation didn't return from scheduled consultations after preliminary talks last week with their Tripoli-based rivals.
Central authority has broken down in Libya, with scores of competing militias battling each other and rival parliaments claiming legitimacy on opposite ends of the country.
The situation has become more urgent with the rise of groups claiming allegiance to the radical Islamic State group and carrying out attacks.
Last week's talks, which focused on setting up a national unity government and security arrangement, represented the first time the Tripoli-based General National Congress had sent a delegation to actively negotiate a resolution to Libya's crisis.
The Tripoli delegation on Friday slammed key Tobruk ally Gen. Khalifa Hifter - who was recently appointed as head of its army - describing his appointment as rash and premature.
“We gave an official request to Leon to respond to Tobruk's appointment of the war criminal known as Hifter as the chief of the army,” said Omar Humidan of the GNC to journalists.
For his part, Hifter, whose forces are battling Islamist militias in Benghazi and who wields significant influence on the Tobruk government, called on Tuesday for the talks to be scrapped.
“The UN and Europe cannot oblige us to sit at the table with terrorists,” he told the Italian ANSA news agency. “Forming a unity government with leaders of extremist movements, as proposed by mediators would... subvert the results of elections and the will of the vast majority of Libyan citizens.”
Sapa-AP