Agreement reached to unify Libyan parliament: Lawmaker

By Walid Abdullah

TRIPOLI, Libya (AA) - A Libyan lawmaker revealed on Tuesday that an agreement had been secured to unify the two competing groups in the country's parliament following a meeting in the capital Tripoli.

Fawzi al-Nuwairi, the deputy speaker of the Tobruk-based parliament, told the Libya Alahrar TV network that "the presidency of the Libyan parliament met on Tuesday in Tripoli and agreed to unify the parliament."

Al-Nuwairi, however, did not give further details on the agreement or who had attended the meeting.

Libyan lawmakers failed in last December to unify the two legislative bodies and elect a new speaker following their meeting in Gadamis, 600 kilometers (373 miles) west of Tripoli.

The current Libyan House of Representatives is divided between lawmakers in Tripoli headed by Mohammad Siala and lawmakers in Tobruk headed by Aguila Saleh. There are currently no accurate figures on the number of the members in each group due to individual resignations and deaths.

On Feb. 5, Libya's rival political groups agreed in UN-mediated talks to form an interim unity government to lead the country to elections this December, designating a prime minister, Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, and tasking him with forming a new government.

Libyans hope that it will end years of civil war that have engulfed the country since the ouster and killing of strongman Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

*Ahmed Asmar contributed to this report from Ankara