Dec. 16 target to sign Libya unity government agreement

The meeting is meant to encourage the Libyans to reach a political rapprochement and form a national unity government as well as global community’s role to support the national unity government after being formed and means to confront terrorism in Libya.

After the ouster of former dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, the differences between various groups of anti-Gaddafi rebels left cracks in the new government in Tripoli.

Kerry will travel from Paris, where almost 200 countries are trying to agree on a global climate pact.

Mr. Kobler said that Libya’s neighbours and others in the region and beyond have expressed a growing sense of alarm at the prospect of a spill over of the terrorist threat.

Calls for peace in Libya have intensified lately as the weakened security situation has helped the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group establish a base in the country.

“The time has come to sign the agreement”, Dabbashi said of the Libyan power-sharing deal.

Since then, it has been torn between an internationally recognized government in eastern Tobruk and an Islamist-backed government in the capital, Tripoli, and now faces threats from Islamic State (IS) extremists.

The presidential council could form a government in 30 days once a deal is signed and that would be ratified by parliament and bolstered by a U.N. Security Council resolution. “There won’t be a Libyan army as we’d like it, but there are a number of forces, which if they worked together would have enough strength to hit Daesh”, said one Western official using the Arabic term for Islamic State.

On December 6, the rival sides signed a declaration of principles in an attempt to end the conflict.

Writing in Politico, the pair said it is “wishful thinking” to believe a majority of Libyans will back a foreign-backed sole national authority.

Leaders of the two rival governing factions plan to meet as soon as next week to finalize the deal.

The agreement makes provision for a process towards the formation of one government of national unity.

Rome hopes to host representatives from Russia, Britain, China, France, Germany, Spain, Algeria, Chad, Morocco, Niger, Qatar, Tunisia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. But shortly after, the government was informed that the Tobruk officials would not be showing up.

But it would also allow a UN-recognised administration to request arms shipments and even foreign military intervention to help rid itself of the insurgents.

He added that efforts must be made to ensure that technical support to the future Libyan Government of National Accord is “visible, tangible and sustainable” for quick delivery.