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| Africa North |
| Libya's elected parliament extends mandate, complicating peace talks |
| 2015-10-06 |
| [ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Libya's elected parliament voted on Monday to extend its mandate, due to expire on Oct. 20, in a move likely to complicate U.N. attempts to end a crisis between the country's two rival governments. Four years after the uprising that toppled veteran ruler Muammar Qadaffy ...a proud Arab institution for 42 years, now among the dear departed, though not the dearest... , the oil-producing North African state is caught in conflict between its recognized government, with an elected parliament, and a rival self-declared administration. The two are backed by competing armed factions. The United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... has been negotiating a peace agreement to form a unity government. It had been pushing hard for a deal before the parliament's mandate ended on Oct. 20 to prevent the country falling deeper into chaos. House of Representatives front man Faraj Hashem said the elected parliament had voted to extend its mandate until it could hand over power to a new elected body. He told news hounds the parliament, known as the HOR, was still supporting the U.N.-backed negotiating process and its delegates were in meetings with the U.N. envoy in the Moroccan city of Skhirat on Monday. "The HOR has amended the constitutional declaration to extend its mandate to avoid a vacuum in the country," politician Tarek Juroushi told Rooters. There was no official reaction from the rival parliament, known as the GNC, and government. These have been established in Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... since an armed faction called Libya Dawn ...aka Fajr Libya, the Islamist operation launched to counter that of General Khalifa Haftar (Operation Dignity). It is made up of the Libya Shield militia (Misrata and Moslem Brotherhood), Libya Revolutionaries Operations Room (Moslem Brotherhood), and Tripoli Brigade (close to Abdul Hakim Belhaj, head of Al-Watan party). Financing and moral support come from Turkey and Qatar... took over the capital last year, driving out the recognized government which now operates in the east of the country. But the move is likely to complicate efforts to get the Tripoli factions to agree to a national unity government and control hardliners resisting a peace accord. "What the HOR has done sends a negative message," one GNC member told Rooters asking his name not be used because the parliament's members planned to meet to discuss their official position. |
| Posted by:Fred |