Libya's internationally recognised parliament is "very unhappy" over a proposed peace deal for the conflict-wracked country, its spokesman said today, throwing a damper on enthusiasm expressed by the UN envoy.
Libya descended into chaos after a 2011 NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed veteran dictator Moamer Kadhafi, with heavily armed former rebels carving out fiefdoms across the country.
The quest for a deal seeks to prevent the oil-rich and strategic North African nation from crumbling into a failed state.
The shaky security situation was underlined Tuesday with the Islamic State group reportedly saying it had captured Sirte, the Mediterranean hometown of the late dictator Moamer Kadhafi.
Bernardino Leon, chief of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya, said Tuesday warring factions had reacted positively to the draft, as they were said to be heading for talks in Berlin with world powers anxious for an end to the conflict.
But Fradj Abou Hachem, spokesman for the parliament based in the eastern city of Tobruk, said anyone from his delegation who goes to Berlin would be doing so on a personal basis only.
He said parliament was "very unhappy over the draft accord," particularly the proposal to give wide powers to the rival General National Congress (GNC) in Tripoli, and "we have called the... Team home for consultations."
Leon presented the draft to delegations from the rival sides at talks in Morocco late yesterday.
"We have distributed, as you will have seen, a new proposed agreement. All I can tell you for now is that the reaction is positive," he told journalists.
There was "sense of optimism" emerging from the talks, he said, but warned that no agreement would work without the backing of armed groups.
Leon had spent this morning shuttling between the negotiators to gauge their response, and mission spokesman Samir Ghattas said the sides would now go to Berlin for talks with European and UN Security Council officials.
Abou Hachem said the proposal over formation of a high council of state was the sticking point.
The 69-article plan provides for the formation of a transitional government of national unity for a period of one year.
It stipulates that the parliament elected last June, most of whose members back the government in Tobruk, should be the legislative authority in the interim.
But the high council of state, most of whose members would be drawn from the GNC, would be able to "express binding opinion with a qualified majority on draft laws".
