'Libyan unity government to be formed by end of 2018'

RABAT, Morocco

Libya’s speaker of the Tobruk-based parliament said on Tuesday he expects the formation of a unity government by the end of the year.

“I expect that by the end of this year, the problems in Libya will be resolved and one unity government will be formed,” Aqila Saleh said at Rabat-Salé Airport before his departure from Morocco.

Saleh said during his visit, he had officially asked Morocco to urge the Libyan parties -- as well as Ghassan Salame, the UN envoy to Libya -- to expedite a solution needed to amend the political agreement for Libya to get past its crisis.

Leaving Rabat, Saleh concluded a visit that started on Sunday evening, including discussions with Habib al-Maliki, the head of Morocco’s House of Representatives, and Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita. Saleh said Rabat wants to help resolve Libya’s crisis.

"Morocco will have a more leading role in relations with Libya," he said, describing his visit to Rabat as “successful.”

Earlier on Monday, Saleh met with Khaled al-Meshri, the newly appointed head of Libya's Supreme Council of State, in their first meeting since Meshri was elected earlier this month.

After his meeting with al-Maliki, Saleh told a press conference in Rabat that his parliament wants "support for the political agreement with the proposed amendment by Ghassan Salame.”

“We expect and hope that the [Supreme] Council of State will agree on this amendment, " he said.

Last September, Salame unveiled a proposed roadmap for resolving Libya’s longstanding political crisis, which calls for holding presidential and parliamentary polls within one year.

The plan is ultimately aimed at establishing a “unified, representative” government within the framework of a 2015 political agreement -- since slightly modified -- between the country’s rival political camps.

Libya has remained dogged by chaos and political uncertainty since 2011, when a bloody uprising led to the ouster and death of longtime President Muammar Gaddafi.

The ensuing power vacuum swiftly led to the emergence of several competing seats of government -- including one in Tobruk and another in the capital Tripoli -- and a plethora of heavily armed militia groups.