GENEVA: Delegates from Libya’s opposing sides kicked off a five-day meeting on Monday to choose an interim prime minister and a three-person presidency council in a bid to reunite the troubled oil-rich country before an election in December.

The Libyan Political Dialogue Forum, including envoys from around Libya, was meeting under UN mediation in an undisclosed site outside Geneva in hopes of stabilising the North African country that has been largely lawless since Moammar Qadhafi’s fall and killing in 2011.

The voting process is taking place under the mediation of the UN secretary generals acting special representative for Libya, Stephanie Williams. The interim authority to be chosen will seek to rebuild state institutions and lead Libya to a national election on Dec 24. A list of possible candidates has already been agreed upon.

“Reaching this far and achieving this progress in the political dialogue has been an arduous journey fraught with challenges,” Williams told the gathering on Monday. Indeed, a year ago, this would not have been possible.

The warring factions also agreed that a national referendum would be held on constitutional arrangements, laying the legal groundwork for the December vote.

Since Qadhafi’s ouster, Libya has been in turmoil and split between rival administrations in the east and west each backed by an array of militias and foreign powers.

Published in Dawn, February 2nd, 2021