Libyan peace dialogue restarts amid deadly clashes

Representatives from Libya’s warring factions restarted the peace dialogue on Friday in the Moroccan city of Skhirat, in an attempt to form a unity government to solve the ongoing political crisis.

According to a press handout from the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), the participants will follow up on discussions made in the earlier round of talks on March 13.

The two rival governments will focus on the formation of “a consensual national unity government” to end the institutional divisions, and security arrangements to end the fighting.

However, the atmosphere back in Libya was somehow tense between the parties.

On Thursday, warplanes from the Islamist-backed government, who occupied capital Tripoli, bombed the southern town of Zintan, a stronghold for the secular internationally-recognized government now exiled in Tobruk.

In retaliation, Tobruk government dispatched jets bombing Tripoli’s Mitiga airport, delaying the delegates from Tripoli authorities from going to the dialogue.

The UNSMIL has issued two statements in a row, pronouncing the warring factions’ recent air strikes to be “reckless” acts.

Deadly clashes between the two factions also erupted since Wednesday in Bir al-Ghanam, a town some 90 kilometers southwest of Tripoli. By Thursday evening, 26 people have died in combat.

Libya, a major oil producer in North Africa, has been witnessing a frayed political process after its former leader Muammar Gaddafi was toppled during the 2011 political turmoil. The country is now deadlocked in a dogfight between the pro-secular army and Islamist militants.

The protracted conflict in Libya has caused a humanitarian crisis with at least 120,000 people forced to flee their homes, resulting in shortages in both food and medical supplies along with mounting casualties.

The UN has brokered several rounds of dialogues between the opposing parties since September, but clashes remained despite a truce agreed on by factions.