Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat—As Libya’s two rival governments gear up for another round of reconciliation talks in Geneva this week under the auspices of the UN, the country’s Tobruk-based government is continuing its attempts to impose its authority over the strife-torn North African state and build new relationships with its neighbors, …

Tripoli, 09 January 2015 – In the framework of efforts to resolve Libya’s political and security crisis, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya, Bernardino Leon, held discussions with Libyan stakeholders Thursday 08 January 2015 on ways to end the hostilities and convene political dialogue.

The Libyan government wants the world to lift the arms embargo in place since 2011.

French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has constantly warned against the increasing presence of extremist organizations and movements in southern Libya and about the area turning into a safe haven for groups the French army expelled from northern Mali last year. Senior US officials and some military leaders, like Gen. David …

Just as oil and gas wealth were the pillars of Col. Muammar Gaddafi’s brutal rentier state, they are at the heart of the civil conflict raging in Libya – demonstrated recently by an escalating battle over storage depots and lifting ports in the country’s oil-rich East, and rumors of an imminent …

UNSMIL chief Bernardino Leon has admitted that he is running out of ideas and Libya is running out of time to find a negotiated end to violence.  He has warned that the time may be approaching when “The international community will have to use more stick and less carrot”.

The United States Tuesday condemned a strike by Libyan aircraft that bombed an oil tanker off the Islamist-held port of Derna, killing two crew members.

Libya’s House of Representatives President Ageela Salah said that there cannot be a military solution to Libya’s current crises.

Efforts by the Beida-based Libyan government to rebuild relations with Qatar appear to have been successful although the President of the House of Representatives (HoR), Ageela Salah Gwaider, has indicated that there is still some way to go.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry has urged Egyptians living and working in Libya to stay indoors and take extra precautions in the aftermath of the last week’s abductions of Egyptian Coptic Christians in Sirte.  However, it is  also looking at ways that Egyptians  can leave the country.