GENEVA: Libyan delegates at UN-led talks outside Geneva on Friday made the surprise choice of Abdul Hamid Dbeibah as prime minister of a transitional unity government to take the war-ravaged country through to elections in December.

He was chosen along with a three-member presidency council to head a unity administration and steer the North African state towards the ballot box on December 24.

Dbeibah, a Canadian-trained engineer from the city of Misrata and founder of the Libya al-Mostakbal (Libya of the Future) movement, previously led the Libyan Investment and Development Company under dictator Moamer Qadhafi.

The vote is part of a complex UN-led process aiming to build on a fragile ceasefire and end more than a decade of conflict.

Oil-rich Libya has been torn by civil war since a Nato-backed uprising led to the toppling and killing of Qadhafi in 2011.

Acting UN envoy Stephanie Williams, who facilitated the week-long talks outside Geneva, said she was “pleased to witness this historic moment”.

Published in Dawn, February 6th, 2021