News / North Africa

Algeria set to host negotiations on Libya crisis: UN

Wednesday, 04 March 2015 5:15 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 04 March 2015 6:51 PM ]

UN special envoy to Libya Bernardino Leon (L) attends a meeting with members of the Libyan General National Congress, in the capital, Tripoli, March 2, 2015. © AFP

The United Nations says the leaders of Libya's warring factions have been invited to hold talks next week in a bid to find a solution to the ongoing conflict in the North African country.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) announced that “a meeting of representatives of Libyan political leaders and activists will convene early next week in Algeria.”

"The mission continues to reach out to leaders of armed groups to work on reaching a ceasefire, and urges all groups to constructively engage with its efforts in this regard," the statement read.

Algeria’s meeting will be followed later with discussions in the Belgian capital city of Brussels involving representatives from several Libyan municipalities, the statement added.

It also went on to say that the UNSMIL will convene a separate session bringing together tribal leaders and social groups.

Meanwhile, Abdelkader Messahel, Algeria's minister for Maghreb and African affairs, noted that over the past few months the country had already hosted secret meetings between some 200 Libyan figures, with some of them having "resulted in signatures.”

The remarks come as Libya's rival parliaments are also expected to hold negotiations in Morocco on Thursday.

Earlier this week, Libya's internationally recognized parliament agreed to come back to UN-sponsored negotiations over the crisis in the violence-stricken country. The agreement came following a meeting between members of parliament and the UN's special envoy to Libya, Bernardino Leon.

Libya plunged into chaos following the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime dictator, Muammar Gaddafi. The ouster of Gaddafi gave rise to a patchwork of heavily-armed militias and deep political divisions.

Libya has two rival camps vying for control of the country, with one controlling the capital, Tripoli, and the other, Libya’s internationally recognized government, governing the eastern cities of Bayda and Tobruk.

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