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| Africa North | |
| Libya's rival governments reach yet another peace deal | |
| 2015-12-07 | |
| Warring Libyan factions meeting in Tunisia said Sunday they had reached an agreement to be approved by rival parliaments on ending the political deadlock that has plagued the country since Moamer Kadhafi's overthrow. "This is a historic moment the Libyans were waiting for, the Arabs were waiting for and the world was waiting for," said Awad Mohammed Abdul-Sadiq, the first deputy head of the Tripoli-based General National Congress (GNC).
Abdul-Sadiq called on Libyans to support what he called "a historic opportunity". "If this solution receives real Libyan support -- from the people and institutions -- we will surely arrive in no more than two weeks or a month to a solution to solve the political crisis," he told a press conference. Amna Emtair from the GNC delegation told AFP the agreement would set up a new representative body that would choose a committee to nominate a prime minister within 15 days, while another committee would conduct a review of Libya's constitution. "It is a major breakthrough," Emtair said. The latest announcement comes as experts and sources in Libya said that the Islamic State jihadist group has strengthened its grip in its Libyan stronghold Sirte. IS first appeared in Libya in 2014 when a group of Libyan IS fighters returned from Syria and reorganised in the port city of Derna, declaring eastern Libya to be a province of the caliphate. | |
| Posted by:Steve White |