Talks in Morocco between Libya’s rival parliaments to form a unity government will resume on Thursday to give the parties time to prepare for a decisive phase, UN envoy Bernardino Leon said.
“The UN mission has decided to give the parties time to organise and prepare for this decisive phase,” Leon said after mediating between the internationally recognised legislature and a rival body.
“They will be back here on Thursday, and they have to come all of them ready to negotiate,” he told reporters in Skhirat, near Rabat.
Libya has been teeming with weapons since the 2011 revolution that toppled longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi, with rival militias and administrations battling for power.
The oil-rich North African country has two parliaments and two governments.
The internationally recognised legislature was elected in June and is based in the eastern city of Tobruk, while the rival Islamist-backed General National Congress (GNC) is in the capital, Tripoli.
They are discussing the form new government would take and the terms of a cessation of hostilities in the violence-wracked country, where the Islamic State group has gained a foothold.
Last week representative from the two sides held UN-mediated indirect talks and then direct discussions.
Leon said more MPs from Tobruk were expected to join those in Morocco to reinforce their team and broaden the scope of the negotiations.
And he warned that time was running out.
“The crisis in Libya is deepening in all aspects. To reach a solution soon… Libya cannot wait anymore,” said Leon, insisting tha the country’s salvation must be a political and not a military one.