Rivals pressured to accept cease-fire, U.N. unity plan
ROME — Diplomats trying to help Libya emerge from the chaos that terrorists have exploited said Sunday that rival political factions in the North African country need to accept an immediate cease-fire and embrace a U.N.-brokered plan to create a “secure, democratic, prosperous and unified state.”
“We refuse to stand by and watch a vacuum filled by terrorists because all of us are unwilling to do what’s necessary to help people who want their freedom, want their independence, want their country back,” U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said after a conference that drew officials from 17 countries, the European Union, the African Union, the Arab League and the United Nations, as well as 15 Libyan leaders.
Members of Libya’s two rival parliaments are set to sign the agreement, mediated by U.N. special envoy Martin Kobler, at a ceremony Wednesday in Morocco.
Libya slid into chaos after the 2011 toppling and killing of dictator Moammar Khadafy. Since then, it has been torn between an internationally recognized government in eastern Tobruk and an Islamistbacked government in the capital, Tripoli, and now faces threats from Islamic State extremists.
The Islamic State is trying to extend its influence beyond areas it now controls, including the city of Sirte. The envisioned government of national accord is seen as critically important to help restore security and mobilize international support to counter the extremists.
Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni has pressed other countries to move faster and with more urgency on Libya, which lies just across the Mediterranean from Italy’s southern shores.
The U.N. plan calls for the creation of that government within 40 days. It would give the Libyans until early February to form a presidency council that would appoint a cabinet, including chiefs of the central bank and national oil company, and begin the process of moving the Tobruk parliament back to Tripoli.