TRIPOLI: Delegates from Libya's rival parliaments gathered for the first time Wednesday for talks aimed at ending months of instability in the violence-plagued country, the U.N. mission said.

"Participants arrive in #Ghadames for round of political dialogue aimed at ending #Libya's crisis," the United Nations Support Mission in Libya said on Twitter.

UNSMIL head Bernadino Leon was also attending the talks in the southern Libyan oasis town of Ghadames, a source with the mission told AFP.

The United Nations had said a meeting in Libya would take place this week but without giving a venue, date or the participants, apparently for security reasons.

Libya, which is awash with weapons and armed factions following the toppling and death of dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011, has two rival governments and parliaments.

Rival militias are also battling for control of its cities and oil wealth.

The source said both representatives of Libya's internationally recognized government and of its rival General National Congress (GNC) were at the meeting.

A round of peace talks between warring factions in Geneva late last month ended in a "positive atmosphere," the U.N. has said.

Participants at the two-day talks included a range of groups and representatives of civil society, who stressed the need to fast-track dialogue on forming a unity government.

The GNC, the outgoing parliament which resumed operations under the leadership of the Islamist Fajr Libya militia, boycotted the Geneva meeting, demanding it be held in Libya.