Associated Press TRIPOLI: The alliance controlling Libya’s capital Tripoli said Wednesday it welcomed a draft U.N. agreement aimed at lifting the country out of months of chaos by forming a national unity government.
U.N. envoy Bernardino Leon’s fourth version of a proposed pact between the Libya Dawn Islamist militia-led alliance and Libya’s internationally recognized government contained “positive proposals that could lead to a political solution,” the Tripoli administration said.
However, it added that “modifications” needed to be made before it would sign a final version of the deal.
Libya has rival governments, and militants have seized on the chaos to make strategic gains.
The conflict has also prompted a huge rise in the number of migrants trying to make the dangerous Mediterranean crossing to Europe, with hundreds dying in shipwrecks and the EU straining to respond.
Under the deal, both sides would commit to integrating their militias into a reformed military under direct control of a unity government.
But the recognized government, exiled in Libya’s east, voiced its “displeasure” Tuesday with the text drawn up by Leon, who had hoped to get an interim deal in place in time for the start of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan this week.
The government has suggested changes to the proposed draft. “We will express ourselves after carefully examining the proposition,” said former premier Mahmoud Jibril.
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