The United Nations’ top envoy in Libya announced on Friday an initiative to bring together some of the country’s most influential actors to settle long-divisive issues, a press statement by the United Nations Support Mission in Libya UNSMIL said.
The initiative was announced by Tarek Mitri, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and head of UNSMIL saying that Libyan parties will meet in the week before parliamentary elections scheduled for 25 June to work out a binding declaration of principles.
“It will feature discussions on urgent and divisive issues in order to reach an agreement, or to narrow the rift, which will pave the way towards concluding the transitional period, beginning with elections,” the press release said.
Libya this year has witnessed some of the worst violence since the fighting of 2011, according to Mr. Mitri.
On Wednesday, UNSMIL urged the country’s officials to agree on precise means to counter terrorism and other challenges to security and state authority, as fighting raged in Benghazi and elsewhere in the east.
Mitri said the initiative has already gained the support of several Libyan actors, chief among them the National Dialogue Preparatory Committee, which includes in its advisory council representatives of all national forces.
Tripoli Post
This article was originally published here.
