Libya MPs vote to return to UN talks on crisis in country

Libya’s internationally recognized parliament has agreed to come back to UN-sponsored negotiations over the crisis in the chaotic country.

Lawmaker Abu Bakr Beira said on Monday that the decision to resume the talks was made after a meeting between members of parliament and the UN’s special envoy to Libya, Bernardino Leon.

The elected parliament pulled out of peace talks last week after a double bomb attack on an eastern town claimed 45 lives.

Libya has two rival camps vying for control of the country, with one controlling the capital, Tripoli, and the other, Libya’s internationally recognized government, governing the cities of Bayda and Tobruk.

Libya’s government and elected parliament moved to the eastern city of Tobruk after an armed group based in the northwestern city of Misrata seized Tripoli and most government institutions in August 2014.

Many fear that the power struggle between two rival governments and armed groups in Libya push the North African country deeper into chaos.

Libya plunged into turmoil following a 2011 uprising against Muammar Gaddafi’s dictatorship. The ouster of Gaddafi gave rise to a patchwork of heavily-armed militias and deep political divisions.

In a separate development on Monday, the internationally recognized government appointed retired General Khalifa Haftar as the country’s new army chief.

Haftar launched an offensive against militants in Libya’s east in May 2014, in a move that was denounced by the then-government. However, after Tripoli was overrun by militants, the internationally recognized authorities gradually allied themselves with him.