Second round of Libya talks in Tunis ends with no results

The United Nations has failed to bridge differences between rival Libyan factions at month-long talks in Tunisia aimed at stabilizing the oil producing nation and paving the way for elections.

The North African country has been gripped by turmoil since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising ended Muammar Gaddafi’s 42-year rule, giving space to Islamist militants and smuggling networks that have sent hundreds of thousands of migrants to Europe.

A month ago U.N. envoy Ghassan Salame, the latest in a series of Libya envoys since 2011, announced a one-year “action plan” for a transition toward presidential and parliamentary elections.

Since then the U.N. has hosted in Tunis delegations from rival parliaments from eastern Libya and Tripoli, which are meant to draw up amendments to a previous U.N.-mediated plan signed in December 2015.

But at the end of a second round of talks Salame only said discussions would continue without giving a new date.

“There are some area of consensus… but there are parts which need discussions with the political leaderships inside Libya,” Salame told reporters without giving details.

(Source: Reuters)