Libyan leaders hold talks in Egypt, affirm to announce peace roadmap soon

ISTANBUL

Libyan leaders on Thursday held a meeting with the Egyptian parliament speaker in Cairo and confirmed that a new road map for Libya will be announced soon.

The meeting was held between Speaker of the House of Representatives Aguila Saleh and head of the Tripoli-based High Council of State (HCS) Khaled al-Mishri, as well as Egyptian Parliament Speaker Hanafi Jabali at the parliament's headquarters in Cairo.

"There is consensus and we need a unified authority in Libya to hold elections under the supervision of the government," Salih said.

He noted that a new authority will be formed from the House of Representatives and State Council.

The roadmap, which will be announced with al-Mishri, "will be a constitutional document and not a single article in the constitution, and the necessary measures will be taken in accordance with the law and the opinion of the two councils," Saleh said, noting that it includes how to hold the elections and unify institutions and others.

"There has been a great rapprochement between the House of Representatives and the State Council, to reach parliamentary and presidential elections as soon as possible," Saleh added.

For his part, al-Mishri said "a roadmap will be worked on in consultation with Saleh and the United Nations Mission, and it will be announced very soon in a meeting that will take place in Libya."

"The document relates to several files and paths and setting clear terms and tasks. Therefore, the consensus between the two councils must be in accordance with the political agreement and under the umbrella and care of the United Nations in order to avoid any doubts," al-Mishri added.

The speaker of the Egyptian parliament described the tripartite meeting as "fruitful," stressing that "its results will become clear in the coming days."

Earlier this week, the HCS, which acts as a senate, decided to resume dialogue with the Libyan parliament after the assembly retracted a law establishing a constitutional court in the eastern city of Benghazi.

The oil-rich Libya has remained in turmoil since 2011 when longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi was ousted after four decades in power.

The situation has worsened since last year when the Libyan parliament appointed a new government led by former Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha, but the head of the Tripoli-based government, Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, said he will cede authority only to a government that comes through an "elected parliament," raising fears that Libya could slip back into a civil war.

* Writing by Mahmoud Barakat in Ankara