Libya’s Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thani resigns
The prime minister of Libya's internationally recognized government has announced his resignation on live television.
"The Libyan PM Abdullah al-Thani announced... his resignation" during a live talk show on a Libyan TV channel, the official Libyan news agency LANA reported early on Wednesday.
The agency added that Thani "will officially submit his resignation to the parliament on Sunday."
This comes as government spokesman Hatem al-Arabi says Thinni would stay on, adding that the premier had only meant he would quit if the people demanded it.
Earlier in the day, the UN special envoy to Libya, Bernardino León, called on the country's rival governments to form a national unity government by the end of August.
Libya has two rival governments vying for the control of the country, with one faction controlling Tripoli, and the other, Libya’s internationally recognized government, governing the cities of Bayda and Tobruk.
León made the comments at the start of two days of peace talks between rival Libyan factions in the Swiss city of Geneva.
"What Libya is facing now is deeper chaos and division... So I hope all the Libyan actors will be wise to avoid this scenario, to expedite the talks, and to reach an agreement very soon," he said. “It is extremely risky to reach October without an agreement because we will be in a more chaotic situation."
All of Libya’s rival factions are present for the talks despite recent suggestions that some groups would not attend.
Among those present is the General National Congress (GNC), the leaders of which refrained from taking part in a UN-sponsored agreement signed in Morocco last month.
"We would like the GNC and all of the Libyans who are participating in the process to give the benefit of the doubt to this process," León said.
Libyan factions have so far failed to reach an agreement that could lead to the formation of a unity government despite holding several rounds of UN-mediated talks in recent months.
The North African country has been witnessing chaos since a 2011 uprising that led to the ouster and subsequent killing of long-time ruler Muammar Gaddafi.
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