Libya Agreement changes to be unveiled by UN

Pressing amendments to the Libyan Political Agreement (LPA) will be revealed at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York today.

Presidency Council (PC) head Fayez Al-Sarraj will attend the meeting as the head of a 60-strong delegation from Libya.

Al-Sarraj will also attend planned meetings during his stay in New York after the main discussions with new UNSMIL chief Ghassan Salamé where the changes to the LPA will be formally unveiled.

The LPA was signed in Morocco in 2015 as a binding agreement to help end the fighting in Libya that spiralled out of control after the uprising against former leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Some of the changes that are expected to be unveiled today include downsizing the PC from nine members to three and creating a separate government.

Read: 6 years after the Arab Spring: Where is Libya now?

Salamé is also expected to propose removing the controversial clause 8 in the agreement which removes the power from the House of Representatives (HoR) to appoint top military commanders and heads of key institutions such as the Central Bank of Libya and the Libyan Investment Authority and instead places it at the hands of the Presidential Council (PC).

New elections for both the HoR and the PC will be a priority in moving forward but for Libyans the process will be observed with trepidation with fears a new body could create more divisions in the country.

Al-Sarraj and rival leader Khalifa Haftar met last in Paris two months ago in which they agreed to hold early elections in 2018, a truce and a newly formed army representative of all of Libya.