Foreign ministers urge Libyan factions to adopt UN unity plan

Diplomats from the United States, Europe and the Middle East met yesterday with leaders of Libya’s rival political factions to impress upon them the need to adopt a Us-brokered national unity plan aimed at rescuing the country from chaos and preventing Islamic State extremists from gaining more ground.

US secretary of state John Ker- ry and Italian foreign minister Paolo Gentiloni co-hosted the Rome conference, which also included representatives from 16 nations, the African Union, the Arab League and the United Nations.

After meeting by themselves in the morning, the officials brought in the Libyan sides and urged them to sign the UN deal, as they have pledged to do in Morocco on Wednesday.

Mr Kerry and Mr Gentiloni were expected to make the same appeal publicly and endorse the UN agreement on behalf of the larger group.

Harlem Desir, France’s secretary of state for European affairs, predicted “unanimous consensus” on the UN plan. He said UN special envoy for Libya Martin Kobler made assurances that the signing will take place.

Mr Kobler, also at the Rome meeting, had mediated the session in Tunisia at which some 40 Libyan lawmakers from the two sides agreed to sign the deal.

Libya slid into chaos following the 2011 toppling of dictator Muammar al-gaddafi. Since then, it has been torn between an internationally recognised government in eastern Tobruk and an Islamist-backed government in the capital, Tripoli, and now faces threats from Islamic State extremists. The UN plan calls for the creation of a national unity government.