Officials from Libya's Tripoli and Tobruk-based administrations ended weeklong discussions in the Egyptian capital Cairo without a deal on constitutional arrangements for elections, according to a statement by the United Nations.
Twelve lawmakers from Libya’s east-based parliament and 12 from the High Council of State, an advisory body in the capital of Tripoli in western Libya, took part in the U.N.-brokered talks that concluded Monday in Cairo.
The U.N. special adviser on Libya, Stephanie Williams, said the officials agreed to reconvene next month after the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan.
Williams said the U.N. was working to seize the consensus reached earlier this year between the two chambers with the aim of reaching an agreement on a constitutional and legislative framework for parliamentary and presidential elections.
Libya failed to hold its first presidential elections on Dec. 24 under a United Nations-led reconciliation effort.
Now the country finds itself once again with two rival administrations. The country’s east-based House of Representatives named a new prime minister, former Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha, to lead a new interim government in February.
The lawmakers claimed the mandate of interim Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, who is based in the capital, Tripoli, expired when the election failed to take place. However, Dbeibah insists that he will remain prime minister until elections are held and the High Council of State, which advises the interim government, has said it was "incorrect" of parliament to name a new prime minister before holding elections.
Libya plunged into chaos after a NATO-backed 2011 uprising toppled longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi. For years, it has been split between rival administrations in the east and the west, each supported by an array of militias and foreign governments.
In April 2019, east-based putschist Gen. Khalifa Haftar and his forces, backed by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), launched an offensive to capture Tripoli. Haftar’s campaign collapsed after Turkey and Qatar stepped up their military support for the Tripoli government.
Mediated by Williams, then the acting U.N. envoy, an October 2020 cease-fire agreement led to the formation of a transitional government with Dbeibah as prime minister and scheduled elections for Dec. 24, which are now postponed.
The United States and the United Kingdom strongly supported Williams’ efforts to promote dialogue among the feuding parties that leads to elections, but Russia did not.