The leader of Libya’s parliament said the elected Libyan House of Representatives would continue talks past an Oct. 20 deadline for its mandate to expire if a peace deal with the divided nation’s rival government is not reached by then.
Ageila Saleh, who represents the internationally recognized government in the oil-rich, but chaotic, north African nation, gave no sign that an agreement was near, even though the UN said the final draft of a peace deal was handed to both sides in recent days. He spoke on Sunday evening on the sidelines of back-to-back UN gatherings of world leaders.
Smugglers have exploited Libya’s internal turmoil to ship thousands of desperate refugees and migrants on rickety boats across the Mediterranean toward Europe’s southern shores. It is just one of the issues jostling for attention as US President Barack Obama, Russian President Vladimir Putin and others this week debate such crises as Syria, Yemen and the growth of extremist groups like the Islamic State group, formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
The UN is pressing Libya’s rival governments — the other has the support of Islamist militias — to form a national unity government, which the international community believes is the first step toward addressing the migration issue and the growing presence of the Islamic State group. The nation has been unstable since the 2011 overthrow and killing of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Differences remain between the two sides, and Saleh said his government wants the talks to “move a step forward.”
He blamed the rival government, based in Libya’s west, for “delaying democracy and putting obstacles in front of the House of Representatives and the Libyan community.”
UN special envoy Bernardino Leon wants a deal in coming weeks, before the mandate of the House of Representatives, based in the eastern city of Tobruk. The mandate expires next month under a political roadmap sketched out post-Gaddafi. Leon has described Libya as a nation running out of money, with nearly 500,000 displaced people and about 250,000 migrants either in the nation or passing through.
Speaking through a translator, Saleh made clear that the parliament would continue past an Oct. 20 deadline if needed.
However, if a national unity government is reached, “that will end the problem,” he said.
If not, “the world has to help.”
Alarmed by the flow of refugees and migrants from Libya’s largely unguarded coast and the deaths at sea along the way, European nations are backing a proposed UN Security Council resolution that would seize and destroy suspected migrant smuggling boats on the high seas. An earlier version of the draft resolution would have authorized such action in Libyan waters as well.
Saleh strongly rejected the idea of entering his nation’s waters, calling it interference. Instead, he appeared to link a solution to the smuggling problem to his government’s persistent appeal to the international community for more weapons — which, the government said, would also help it fight militant organizations like the Islamic State group.
“We did not get any support to stop this illegal migration and protect our borders,” he said. “We can protect our own borders and stop illegal immigration.”
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