Libyan premier quits on live TV

Libyan Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thani attends a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister in Moscow on April 15, 2015.

Libyan Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni made a sudden announcement during a live television show that he was stepping down but his office later said it was just an intention and not official.

“I officially resign and I will submit my resignation to the House of Representatives on Sunday”, he told “Libya channel”, a private TV station.

Rival Libyan factions Tuesday restarted peace talks aimed at creating a unity government, with representatives of the powerful Tripoli parliament expected to join the negotiations after boycotting them last month.

Libya is gripped by spiraling insecurity with Benghazi, the main city in the country’s east, caught in a daily war between pro- and anti-government militias and forces.

Among those present are leaders of the General National Congress (GNC), the Islamist-backed parliament that now sits in Tripoli.

Urging Libyan factions to agree unity government by month-end Leon said, “We are proposing that the parties work in the coming three weeks and try to have agreement on these important two points regarding the annexes and the unity government by the end of August”.

“This will very much depend on the political will and on the creativity, on the wisdom of the parties to bring good names, good proposals on the table”.

“What Libya is facing now is deeper chaos and a division of the country”.

In a statement, Bernardino Leon, the United Nations secretary-general’s special envoy for Libya, urged participants to “continue working together towards narrowing existing differences and forging a common platform that can form the basis for a peaceful resolution of the political and military conflict in Libya”.

It remains unclear if both governments will send representatives to tomorrow’s scheduled talks in Geneva.

“There has to be more convergence”, he said, stressing that without full buy-in from those fighting on the ground, a political deal is unlikely to hold up.

Addarrat conceded that militias linked to Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State (ISIS) group will nearly certainly reject any unity government, but said that Libya’s best hope to combat extremism is through a single, recognized central authority. On Monday, Thinni’s government said that Tripoli worldwide Airport would be renamed after the late King Idris, toppled by Gaddafi in 1969.