Libyan forces claim control of central Benghazi

BENGHAZI: East Libyan forces said they had gained control over one of two remaining districts of Benghazi where they faced armed resistance.

The advance in the central Souq al Hout neighbourhood was the latest step in the slow progress of the self-styled Libyan National Army commanded by Khalifa Haftar, which has been waging a campaign against militants and other opponents in Libya’s second city for more than three years.

In unusually heavy fighting in Benghazi over the past two days at least 13 men from the LNA were killed and 37 wounded, a medical official said. Many of those who died were killed by land mines, a source said.

Along with Sabri, Souq al Hout was one of the final holdouts of the LNA’s rivals.

Since 2014, shifting alliances have been battling for power. The LNA and an eastern-based government have rejected a UNbacked government that has been in the capital, Tripoli, since last year.

Saturday’s advance came after the Benghazi Defence Brigades (BDB), an anti-Haftar armed group that includes fighters who retreated from Benghazi and have since tried and failed to advance again towards the city, said it was prepared to disband and be integrated into national security forces.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Security Council approved the appointment of a former Lebanese culture minister as the new UN envoy to Libya, diplomats said, ending an unusually contentious fourmonth search. UN chief Antonio Guterres officially put forward Ghassan Salame, a professor of International Relations and Conflict Resolution at Sciences Po in Paris, according to a letter seen by Reuters.

The 15-member council must agree by consensus on the appointment of special envoys and members had until Tuesday evening to raise any objections. There were none, diplomats said.

The search for a successor to Martin Kobler, a German diplomat who has served as the UN representative in Libya since November 2015, began in February when Guterres proposed former Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad for the job .

The United States rejected Fayyad because of his nationality. US Ambassador Nikki Haley said the United Nations had been “unfairly biased in favour of the Palestinian Authority to the detriment of our allies in Israel.”

Guterres described the US rejection as “a loss for the Libyan peace process and for the Libyan people.”