UN-backed Libya parliament launches initiative to address conflict

Libya’s Tripoli-based parliament yesterday announced a new comprehensive political initiative aimed at “resolving the Libyan crisis, ending the transitional phase, and implementing parliamentary and presidential elections on a constitutional basis.”

In an official statement, the council called on all “political, social and youth forces to interact and support the new intuitive,” stressing that it would continue to support “sovereign and service institutions by taking prompt actions to ensure they fulfill their duties.”

“There is a need for all national forces to collaborate and work through state institutions to contribute to the reform, maintenance the stability and security of the homeland, and creating a favourable climate for change, that all Libyans seek, through peaceful and democratic methods, and within the law,” the statement read.

Libya has been divided since 2014 between the Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli and a rival eastern administration in Benghazi, where Libyan National Army (LNA) commander Khalifa Haftar has dominated. There are also two separate Houses of Representatives each based in one city.

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