Libyan parliamentarians meet for peace talks in Morocco

AFP , Thursday 5 Nov 2020

Warring factions returned to the negotiating table in September in UN-supported talks, with negotiations being held in Morocco, Egypt and Switzerland

Libya Talks
FILE PHOTO Nasser Bourita, Morocco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, chairs a meeting of representatives of Libya’s rival administrations in the coastal town of Bouznika, south of Rabat, on September AFP

Libyan politicians from the war-ravaged North African nation's rival administrations met for the latest round of peace talks in Morocco on Thursday.

The lawmakers met in the coastal town of Bouznika, south of Morocco's capital Rabat, for talks that come ahead of a major meeting in Tunisia slated for November 9.

The talks follow a "permanent" UN-backed ceasefire agreement signed in Switzerland last month, intended to pave the way towards a political solution to the country's grinding conflict.

Libya, with Africa's largest proven crude oil reserves, has been wracked by conflict for nearly a decade, since the overthrow and killing of dictator Moamer Kadhafi in a NATO-backed uprising in 2011.

It has since been dominated by the bitterly-opposed Government of National Accord (GNA) in the capital Tripoli, and the east-based government backed by the Libyan National Army's (LNA) leader Khalifa Haftar.

Warring factions returned to the negotiating table in September in UN-supported talks, with negotiations being held in Morocco, Egypt and Switzerland.

Details of the agenda of the talks in Morocco have not been released.

Negotiators are pushing parallel efforts to broker peace, with the military section of talks taking place this week for the fist time on Libyan soil.

On Tuesday, former enemy officers sat together in a joint military commission and agreed on a road map for implementing the ceasefire deal.

*This story was edited by Ahram Online. 

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