Mahmoud Barakat
13 January 2019•Update: 13 January 2019
By Walid Abdullah
TRIPOLI
UN envoy to Libya Ghassan Salama arrived in the southern city of Sabha on Sunday, for his first visit to the war-torn country since he assumed his position in June 2017.
Salama arrived at Tamanhint Airport in Sabha city, the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) confirmed on Twitter.
The UN envoy on Friday affirmed that preparatory discussions were still underway in advance of a planned Libyan National Conference.
In an interview with Algerian state radio, Salama said “two or three weeks” of meetings between representatives of Libya’s rival camps were still needed before a date could be set for the ambitious event.
“But the decision to convene the conference has already been taken and contacts between our Libyan partners have begun," he added.
Libya has remained dogged by turmoil since when a bloody NATO-backed uprising led to the ouster and death of long-serving President Muammar Gaddafi after more than four decades in power.
Since then, Libya’s stark political divisions have yielded several rival seats of power -- including a UN-backed government in capital Tripoli -- and a host of heavily armed militia groups.
