Libya: Tobruk government withdraws from peace negotiations

Libya: Tobruk government withdraws from peace negotiations
Libya's Tobruk-based parliament has announced that it has withdrawn from UN-sponsored peace negotiations after rejecting amendments to the final draft agreement requested by the General National Congress.
2 min read
23 September, 2015
UN special envoy Leon vowed no amendments would be made to the draft deal [Anadolu]
Libya's Tobruk-based parliament has announced that it has withdrawn its representatives from the UN-sponsored political dialogue in Libya after rejecting amendments that were added to the final draft agreement at the request of the General National Congress (GNC).

Al-Araby al-Jadeed
has obtained a copy of a letter addressed to the head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya, Bernardino Leon, in which Tobruk's parliamentary speaker, Aqila Saleh, states that the Tobruk government no longer has representation in the political dialogue sessions.

He also said that the Tobruk government was "concerned about the fast-moving events in the course of the political dialogue process, which have led to the initial draft agreement being opened in order to introduce amendments to it that were requested by the GNC from the head of the mission".

Leon said on Tuesday that he had presented the factions with a final draft of the peace agreement in Skhirat, Morocco, and urged all parties to return to the table after the Eid al-Adha holiday with a yes or no response.

He also urged them to ratify the deal and begin to implement it before 20 October.

The UN envoy also said that no additions or amendments would be made to the text of the draft agreement - a key demand of the Tobruk government.

Since Gaddafi's dictatorial and repressive regime was toppled, it has been replaced with instability and violence that has resulted in the death of tens of thousands of Libyans. Many Libyans were hoping that the warring factions would accept this final draft agreement and start the beginning of the end of their suffering.