UN envoy gives Libya rivals ultimatum on peace plan

UN envoy Bernardino Leon told Libya's warring parties Tuesday there would be no more negotiations on a UN peace plan and it was time for them to take it or leave it.

As talks in the Moroccan seaside resort of Skhirat broke up for the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday that runs from Wednesday until Sunday, Leon told delegates from Libya's rival parliaments that when they returned he expected a straight yes or no answer.

Libya has had two parliaments and two governments since August last year when militia seized the capital Tripoli prompting the government recognised by most of the international community to take refuge in the remote east.

Leon has been trying for months to come up with a compromise between the conflicting claims of the two administrations that will allow the formation of a united government to tackle the rise of jihadist groups and people smuggling across the Mediterranean to Europe.

But successive proposals have met with objections from one side or the other, and the Spanish diplomat said that the latest plan was the final one and there would be no more redrafting.

"In every negotiation and every process, there's a moment in which we have to be clear that the job is done," Leon told a pre-dawn news conference.

"We have now a text, which is a final text... now it's up to the parties and participants in the dialogue to react to this text but not in terms of adding more comments or getting back with something to negotiate.

"It's the moment for them... after a process that has been longer than we all expected... to say yes we want to work together.

"Every Libyan... will see elements in the agreement they will not like but hopefully they will see more elements that they like.

"They can refuse and reject the proposal but in this case they will also be choosing uncertainty, choosing difficulties working with the international community."

Source: AFP