Libya lawmakers attend Tangiers talks

Dozens of lawmakers from across war-torn Libya’s political spectrum are taking part in consultations in the Moroccan city of Tangiers as part of efforts to resolve the country’s political crisis.

The meetings come as Libyan delegates on Monday resumed separate UN-led virtual talks on a selection mechanism for an executive to help lead the country out of conflict and prepare for elections.

Libya has been riven by violence since a 2011 Nato-backed uprising that toppled and killed veteran dictator Muammar Gaddafi, with two rival administrations and an array of militias now dominating the country. A government resulting from previous UN talks in 2015 is based in the capital. The east is dominated by the forces of strongman Khalifa Haftar, who backs a parliament elected in 2014 and based in the city of Tobruk.

The House of Representatives, which has refused to ratify the Tripoli administration, is deeply divided internally. “We are working here to put in place a road map before an official session in Libya to...unify the House of Representatives and bring the country out of crisis,” Mohamed Raied, a member of the legislature who is based in the western city of Misrata, said on Monday.

Asmahan Belaoun, another HoR member, said lawmakers were holding “consultative meetings to bring together points of view”. The meetings, which were organised by HoR members themselves and will run until today, were welcomed by the United Nations’s Libya mission UNSMIL.

“That such a diverse range of Parliamentarians from Libya’s three regions is meeting under one roof is a positive and welcome step,” UNSMIL said on Twitter.