UN-brokered negotiations aimed at stemming Libya's collapse into a failed state threatened to fall apart after the country's internationally recognized parliament today dropped out of the talks in protest over a plan that would mean sharing power with its rivals.
The wrangling over the UN draft plan came as militants from the North African nation's Islamic State affiliate seized new territory, inching closer to a major city and oil terminals, virtually Libya's sole source of state revenues.
The threat of the Islamic State group, which already holds two cities and several towns in Libya, is one of the factors fueling the United Nations' push to resolve the country's chronic chaos. European countries fear the extremists will gain a larger bastion just across the Mediterranean.
Libya's escalated turmoil the past year has also fueled a sharp increase in migrants using its coast to try to reach European shores, with hundreds dying at sea in the attempt.
Since early last year, Libya has been split. In the capital Tripoli and most of the west, militias backing Islamist political factions are in control, and the Islamists have set up their own parliament and government.
The east is mainly held by the anti-Islamist parliament elected last year, which is recognized internationally and backed by remnants of the Libyan army led by powerful general Khalifa Hifter.
The two sides have been fighting for months, with neither able to gain an advantage over the other.
The draft power-sharing plan was announced Monday from Morocco, where UN officials have been mediating talks between the two sides. On Tuesday, before the Libyan parliament announcement, UN envoy Bernardino Leon expressed cautious optimism that the deal would win consensus among rival groups.
"There is a general sense of hope, I would say even optimism ... But still we have to cautious."
After the elected parliament announced its suspension, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said, "We all remain hopeful the parties will support the agreement."
Since the ouster and killing of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi in the 2011 civil war, Libya has been in chaos.
Successive governments have been powerless since the army and police were shattered by the war and the void was filled by local militias that hold sway, often battling each other and backing rival political factions.
The crisis was exacerbated when a militia force known as Libya Dawn, made up mainly of fighters from the third-largest city Misrata, took over Tripoli last year, allowing the Islamist factions including the Muslim Brotherhood to set up their government while the anti-Islamist government fled east.
