Updated
U.N. envoy confident Libya factions can seal deal around September 10 | Reuters
Morocco is hosting the latest round of Libya peace talks, beginning today:
The United Nations special envoy to Libya said he was optimistic that the country’s two parliaments will be ready to agree on forming a unity government by mid-September, a vital step towards ending the political crisis and military conflict.
The United Nations has been trying to persuade the country’s warring factions for months to form a unity cabinet and end fighting across the country four years after the ousting of Muammar Gaddafi.
Militant groups allied to each of the two administrations have brought the country’s oil-dependent economy to its knees, and most of Libya is lawless and run by armed groups attached to neither government.
“I continue to believe that around Sept. 10 we will be in a position to have a final agreement,” Bernardino Leon told France 24 in an interview aired late on Wednesday.
Leon is scheduled to hold a new round of talks in Morocco on Thursday to push the factions to agree on a deal, but the parliament based in Tripoli has so far refused to sign it…[FULL STORY]