Libya's Rival Parliament Says Open to UN-Sponsored Peace Talks

Tripoli: Libya's rival parliament is open to UN-sponsored talks to end the country's conflict if the venue of the next round is changed and certain conditions are met, a parliamentary spokesman said on Tuesday.

The UN had planned to hold a second round of talks this week with Libya's rival governments and parliaments, but no date or venue has been announced yet. On Monday, the world body said the dialogue had been complicated by new fighting of armed factions allied to both sides.

The OPEC oil producer has had two governments and assemblies when a brigade called Libya Dawn seized Tripoli in August, setting up its own parliament and prime minister in a conflict Western powers fear will tear apart the desert nation.
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Omar Hmeidan, spokesman for the General National Congress (GNC), the rival parliament based in Tripoli challenging the recognized assembly operating out of the east, said talks needed to be based on the assumption that the GNC was the legitimate body.

"Members of the GNC will attend the talks as representatives of the legislative body," he told reporters, proposing to hold the next round in the southern twon of Hun.

He also said that forces that launched a military offensive on Saturday to try to take eastern oil ports were acting in the name of the GNC. The recognized government has launched air strikes to stop the advance and also attacked positions in western Libya near the border to Tunisia.

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The U.N. had held a first round of talks in September in the southern city of Ghadames by inviting the House of Representatives, now based in the east, and members from Misrata, linked to Libya Dawn, which has boycotted sessions.

U.N. Special Envoy Bernadino Leon said last week the next round would also include GNC members.

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"We want to change the conditions of the Ghadames dialogue and change therefore the venue," Hmeidan said.