World News | Libya's Rival Officials Meet in Egypt for Talks on Elections

Cairo, Apr 13 (AP) Rival Libyan officials on Wednesday began talks in the Egyptian capital here on disputed constitutional arrangements for their country's elections.

The UN-brokered talks come as the North African nation is increasingly deadlocked.

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Twelve lawmakers from Libya's east-based parliament and 12 from the High Council of State, an advisory body in the capital of Tripoli in western Libya are taking part, according to the parliament's spokesman, Abdullah Bliheg.

UN special adviser on Libya Stephanie Williams on Sunday said that the meetings in Cairo would conclude on April 20.

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Libya has been pulled apart again, with two rival governments claiming power after tentative steps towards unity in the past year, following a decade of civil war.

The oil-rich North African country has been wrecked by conflict since the NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.

The country has for years been split between rival administrations in the east and west, each supported by different militias and foreign governments.

In February, the country's east-based House of Representatives named a new prime minister, former interior minister Fathi Bashagha, to lead a new interim government.

The lawmakers there claimed the mandate of interim Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, who is based in Tripoli, expired when the election failed to take place as planned in December.

Dbeibah, however, remained defiant against replacing his government, despite the resignations of a handful of ministers and the handover of government buildings in the southern and eastern regions to Bashagha's government.

Over the past two months, divisions among Libyan factions deepened, with militias mobilising — especially in the western region. That has raised fears fighting could return after more than a year and a half of relative calm.

The presidential vote was originally planned for December 24, but was postponed over disputes between rival factions on laws governing the elections and controversial presidential hopefuls. That was a major blow to international efforts to end a decade of chaos. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)