Delegates of elected parliament to discuss peace plan despite divisions

June 10, 2015 5:53 AM

On Monday, U.N. special envoy Bernardino Leon presented a fourth proposal for a peace plan and unity cabinet after months of talks in Morocco, which both sides were expected to discuss with European and North African officials in Germany.

Delegates of elected parliament to discuss peace plan despite divisions

A delegation of Libya's elected parliament has arrived in Germany to discuss with European and North African officials a U.N. proposal to form a unity government despite some lawmakers rejecting the plan, officials said on Tuesday.

The splits underscored the complex task the United Nations faces in implementing any agreement for a united national authority and a peace deal on the ground where two rival governments and various armed factions battle for control.

On Monday, U.N. special envoy Bernardino Leon presented a fourth proposal for a peace plan and unity cabinet after months of talks in Morocco, which both sides were expected to discuss with European and North African officials in Germany.

"We are in Berlin," Emhemed Shoaib, a deputy speaker, told Reuters. U.N. spokesman Samir Ghattas confirmed the delegation was in Germany as part of the talks.

But four lawmakers, speaking from eastern Libya where the elected assembly is based, said the assembly had rejected the proposal and withdrawn its delegates from the talks.

Some 55 out of 72 attending lawmakers had ordered the delegation to come back to Libya and not to travel to Germany, said Tareq al-Jouroushi, head of parliament's defence committee.

Three other deputies confirmed this to Reuters while the official spokesman Farraj Hashem could not be reached for comment.

But first deputy speaker Emhemed Shoaib said this was not true, warning in a statement sent to Reuters with the help of a U.N. spokesman of "burning the issues without reasons."

The U.N. proposal had many positive aspects but needed further "clarification" to address some points which needed to be reviewed, Shoaib's statement said, without elaborating.

The U.N. proposal calls for a year-long government of national accord, where a council of ministers headed by a prime minister with two deputies will have executive authority.

Jouroushi said lawmakers objected to including the Tripoli parliament in the proposal. "The proposal does not reflect the legitimacy of the elected parliament," he said.

The House of Representatives will be the only legislative body, the deal states. The accord also calls for a 120-member State Council consultative body, consisting of members of the Tripoli parliament.

Both sides in the conflict are divided between more moderate forces and hardliners who favour a military solution.

Jouroushi is the son of the eastern government's air force commander, whose force has been battling Islamists in Benghazi.

In the central city of Sirte, Islamic State seized a power plant on the western outskirts, killing three members of a force sent from Tripoli to protect the plant, a military source said.

The militants had already seized the city and its airport.