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Libyan parties reach consensus on main elements of political agreement: UN envoy

by IBNS 14 Sep 2015, 07:44 am

New York, Sept 14 (IBNS): The United Nations envoy for Libya announced on Sunday that consensus has been reached by the parties on the main elements of a political agreement aimed at resolving the ongoing crisis.

“I think this is a very important day for Libya,” Bernardino León, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), told a press conference in Skhirat, Morocco, where talks have been taking place.

“After long hours of discussions, we have reached what we consider is a consensus on the main elements. We are going to distribute the text to the parties and we are going to work on this text tonight, and we believe that this text will receive the total support of the parties,” he explained.

The envoy hoped that once the text is voted on by the two parties – the House of Representatives and the General National Congress – it will be endorsed by the rest of the participants in the coming days and ready for signature by 20 September.

“We know that it is going to be difficult. We know that it is going to require a lot of work, but we believe that it will be possible to reach this deadline of the 20th of September with an agreement that will be signed,” said León, who has been facilitating the peace talks.

The North African nation has been plagued by factional fighting since the 2011 revolution, with the situation continuing to deteriorate in recent months amid significant political fragmentation and violence.

Photo: UNSMIL