Participants at Libya’s UN-sponsored peace talks have approved a list of candidates seeking to lead a transitional government that will prepare the country for a national election at the end of the year, the United Nations said.
The Libyan Political Dialogue Forum was meeting in Switzerland in hopes to end a decade of conflict since Moammar Gadhafi’s toppling in 2011.
Since 2014, Libya has been split between an internationally-recognised government in the west, based in the capital Tripoli, and its rivals based in Benghazi in the east. Turkey has supported the Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli, while Russia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt have backed Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) in the east.
The participants at the peace talks will vote next week to pick a three-person presidential council and a prime minister. The list of approved candidates includes Aguila Saleh, head of the eastern-based parliament, while they also include the GNA’s interior minister Fathi Bashagha, defence minister Saleh Namroush and deputy prime minister Ahmed Maiteeg.
However, while the peace talks have progressed, Libyans fear that competition for posts could trigger fresh fighting, unravelling a ceasefire that has largely held since October.