Tripoli Mps Want Un Libya Envoy Replaced

Sixty members of the Tripoli-based General National Congress (GNC) on Wednesday called for suspending participation in the UN-sponsored talks until installing a new UN envoy.



In a letter they sent to GNC Speaker Nouri Abusahmain, the MPs said UN envoy Bernardino Leon was following policies that would push Libya to "civil war."



They described Leon's policies as both "intransigent" and "stubborn," warning that such policies would open the door for yet more rifts and "catastrophic consequences."



The Anadolu Agency could not immediately obtain comments from Leon on the accusations.



Made up of 200 members in total, the GNC did not reveal the number of members attending national dialogue talks.



In March, Leon proposed a blueprint for settling the Libyan crisis during dialogue talks between Libya's rival political forces in the Moroccan city of Skhirat.



The blueprint called for the formation of a national unity government in Libya and a presidential council, recognizing the Tobruk-based House of Representatives as the parliament of Libya and forming a constituent assembly.



The GNC, however, refuses to recognize the rival House of Representatives.



Libya has remained in a state of turmoil since a bloody uprising ended the decades-long rule of strongman Muammar Gaddafi in late 2011.



Since then, the country's stark political divisions have yielded two rival seats of government, each with its own institutions and military capacities.



Vying for legislative authority are the Tobruk-based House of Representatives and the Islamist-led GNC, which convenes in capital Tripoli.



The two assemblies support two rival governments respectively headquartered in the two cities.



www.aa.com.tr/en - Trablus