LONDON, United Kingdom. Libya’s warring factions have signed a UN-brokered peace deal to form a national unity government.
Western powers hope the deal will bring stability to the North African country and help fight a growing Islamic State presence in the country.
Libya has been deeply fractured since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, with two rival governments – a self-declared one in the capital Tripoli and an internationally recognised one in the east – each supported by coalitions of former rebels and militias.
Representatives of parliaments, local councils and political parties signed the deal to chants of “Libya, Libya” in the Moroccan town of Skhirat.
UN deal faces resistance
The heads of both rival parliaments, as well as factions within both camps have rejected the agreement, illustrating the likely difficulties in establishing a new government on the ground.
And UN envoy Martin Kobler acknowledged that much remained to be done.
“This is just the beginning of a long journey for Libya. Signing is only the first step on the road to putting Libya back on the right track,” he said at the ceremony.
“The door is always open to those who are not here today. The new government must move urgently to address the concerns of those who feel marginalised.”
Under the deal, a nine-member presidential council will form a government with the current, eastern-based House of Representatives as the main legislative and a State Council as a second consultative chamber.
The presidential council will name a new government in a month and a UN Security Council resolution will endorse it.
Meanwhile, it has been revealed British troops could be sent to Libya to help train local forces if the new unity government asks for support.
A Downing Street spokesman said the Government had made clear it would support a new administration in Libya, but if any troops were sent they would not be in a combat role.
He said: “We have always been clear we would look to support a unity government if one were to be formed and if one is formed we would obviously need to wait for any requests that they put to us before we would then make a decision.
“We have always certainly been clear that if any troops were ever deployed on the back of a request from that government, that they certainly would not be in a combat role.”
Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond told MPs on Wednesday the West and Gulf states would “swing behind” a new Libyan government to help them fight IS.
Credit: Sky News
