Libyans demonstrate against Geneva talks

Protests have been held in 5 cities in Libya against the Geneva talks which started on Thursday. Anadolu news agency reported that protesters called the Libyan participants in the talks “tyrants”. They have gone to the Swiss city, they claimed, to be told what to do, not to negotiate.

The latest round of UN-led talks include a number of Libyan parties to the conflict in the North African country. They aim to bring peace to Libya, which has been battered by internal conflicts since the revolution that ousted the dictator Muammar Gadhafi.

According to the “information envoy” at the talks, the delegates arrived in Geneva on Wednesday, with the first formal meeting held on Thursday. Abdul-Mon’im Jerai added that the Head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), Bernardino Léon, met with the Libyan delegates separately on their arrival. The UN said that this round of talks represents the start of a “long process” aimed at bringing an end to fighting in the country and reaching a political settlement.

Léon does not expect this to be easy and is not expecting an early breakthrough. “There is a gap between the parties, which is becoming more complicated,” he said, a fact which he attributed to the situation on the ground. “There is more fighting [in Libya], so we will try to facilitate these talks and to help them to reach common ground, but it is not going to be easy.”

The UN official explained that the Libyans are talking in an effort to agree a code of principles in order to go ahead with reforming their country. “For all Libyans agreeing on these principles, we are proposing an agreement and we are proposing a new unity government to start solving their political differences,” he pointed out.

Several Libyan factions have refused to attend the talks, including the National Conference and the Libya Dawn, which are the main powers on the ground. The former said that it would convene on Monday and issue a statement regarding participation in the Geneva talks. Libya Dawn, meanwhile, has already condemned the talks, insisting that it will never attend or recognise any results coming out of Geneva.