LIBYA-SECURITY/UN-TALKS U.N. urges Libyan factions to agree on unity government

Record ID: 144211

  • Title: LIBYA-SECURITY/UN-TALKS U.N. urges Libyan factions to agree on unity government
  • Date: 12th August 2015
  • Summary: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND (AUGUST 11, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF U.N. BUILDING VARIOUS OF GENERAL NATIONAL CONGRESS (GNC) DELEGATION INCLUDING SALEH AL-MAKZOM, LIBYAN DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF THE GNC, ARRIVING AT THE U.N. SALEH AL-MAKZOM AND GNC DELEGATION ENTERING THE MEETING ROOM BERNARDINO LEON SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE U.N. SECRETARY GENERAL FOR LIBYA ARRIVING FOR NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) BERNARDINO LEON, SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE U.N. SECRETARY GENERAL FOR LIBYA, SAYING: "We are proposing the parties to work on the coming three weeks and to try to have agreement on these important two points - on the annexes and the unity government - by the end of August." CAMERAMAN (SOUNDBITE) (English) BERNARDINO LEON, SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE U.N. SECRETARY GENERAL FOR LIBYA, SAYING: "We are very satisfied to see that all actors will be here tonight and tomorrow and that there will be a new chance to provide a big drive for the process on this perspective." JOURNALIST (SOUNDBITE) (English) BERNARDINO LEON, SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE U.N. SECRETARY GENERAL FOR LIBYA, SAYING: "This will very much depend on the political will and the creativity, on the wisdom of the parties to bring good names, good proposals on the table. So if this was possible then the endorsement and final voting and signing of the agreement could happen in the first weeks of September." JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) BERNARDINO LEON SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE U.N. SECRETARY GENERAL FOR LIBYA, SAYING: "What Libya is facing now, is a deeper chaos and division of the country. So I hope all the Libyan actors will be wise, to avoid this scenario, to expedite the talks and to reach an agreement very soon." NEWS CONFERENCE BERNARDINO LEON LEAVING
  • Embargoed: 27th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Switzerland
  • Country: Switzerland
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA2DL78007L4R0WQVAKWCFIC9Z4
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The United Nations special envoy to Libya called on the country's warring parties on Tuesday (August 11) to agree on a national unity government by the end of August and endorse it with a vote in September.
    Libya is split between two governments backed by armed factions fighting for control. Libya Dawn, an alliance of local militias, drove the internationally recognized government out of the capital Tripoli, and declared its own government a year ago, leaving the oil-rich country on the verge of anarchy.
    "We are proposing the parties to work on the coming three weeks and to try to have agreement on these important two points - on the annexes and the unity government - by the end of August," the U.N. special envoy to Libya, Bernardino Leon, who opened the two-day talks in Geneva, told a news conference.
    "We are very satisfied to see that all actors will be here tonight and tomorrow and that there will be a new chance to provide a big drive for the process on this perspective," Leon said.
    The U.N. proposal calls for a one-year government of national accord in which a council of ministers headed by a prime minister and two deputies would have executive authority. The Geneva talks focus on five annexes to the pact and the unity government.
    "This will very much depend on the political will and the creativity, on the wisdom of the parties to bring good names, good proposals on the table. So if this was possible then the endorsement and final voting and signing of the agreement could happen in the first weeks of September," Leon told journalists.
    The input of armed groups on security arrangements was important, Leon said, but was lagging behind the political process.
    "What Libya is facing now, is a deeper chaos and division of the country. So I hope all the Libyan actors will be wise, to avoid this scenario, to expedite the talks and to reach an agreement very soon", he said.
    Some Libyan factions signed an initial U.N.-sponsored agreement in Morocco on July 12 to form a unity government and end fighting. A key player from the parliament in Tripoli, the General National Congress, stayed away then, but the GNC is taking part in the Geneva talks, expected to last through Wednesday (August 12) and possibly Thursday (August 13).
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