Libya's rival legislatures agree to resume peace talks

Tripoli, Sep 11 (IANS) Libya's two rival legislative bodies have agreed to resume peace talks in Morocco in the last week of September.In a joint statement issued at the end of a five-day meeting on Thursday, the High Council of State based in the Libyan capital Tripoli and the eastern-based House of Representatives said they "have reached a comprehensive agreement on the criteria and mechanisms to occupy the keys posts of sovereignty", reports Xinhua news agency.The statement declined to give further details about the agreement, only confirming that the talks will be held in the last week of September.The meeting came weeks after the separate visits by President of the Libyan High Council of State Khalid al-Mishri and Speaker of the Libyan House of Representatives Aguila Saleh to Morocco.In 2015, Morocco hosted the UN-brokered peace talks between Libya's rival parties that led to the conclusion of the Libyan Political Agreement on forming a national unity government.Despite that, Libya remains politically divided amid insecurity and escalating violence.The UN-backed government had been engaged in a deadly armed conflict against the eastern-based army for more than a year over control of the capital Tripoli, before the former recently took over all of western Libya.
--IANS ksk/