UN-led Libya Transition Talks Renewed Online

A second round of UN-brokered talks on Libya between the Government of National Accord (GNA) and the Libyan National Army (LNA) to decide on who will lead a transitional government began online on Monday. The talks come a week after in-person talks in Tunis ended without a resolution. The online meeting of the 75-member forum made up of officials from both warring factions was led by Stephanie Williams, the head of the UN mission to Libya. The forum did agree last week to hold presidential and parliamentary elections on December 24, 2021, which is Libyan Independence Day. The two sides last month signed a temporary cease-fire, paving the way for the negotiations. While the GNA, Libya’s official governing body recognized by the UN, holds most of the war-torn country’s territories, including the capital of Tripoli, the LNA, led by renegade general Khalifa Haftar and propped up by Russian, Egyptian and Emirati money and mercenaries, controls the eastern border and the important city of Sirte. The country has suffered political unrest since the 2011 overthrow and killing of the country’s dictator, Muammar Gaddafi.