UN to hold peace talks with Libyan Joint Military Commission

The UN will host peace talks today with the Libyan Joint Military Commission in a continuation of the Geneva conference held earlier this year.

Today’s Libyan Political Dialogue Forum will be held in a hybrid format, with online virtual consultations preceding an in-person meeting in Tunisia in early November. These meetings are meant to reach a consensus on a framework unified government and eventually organise national elections. The UN supports a complete halt to all military operations and the establishment of a Demilitarised Zone in the country to maintain the ceasefire.

Prospects for a successful peace to the Libyan conflict have increased as both sides are more willing to end hostilities and come to the discussion table following the resignation of the Benghazi-based government and a stalemate in the fighting around Sirte. Should talks prove successful, expect measures to strengthen the Petroleum Facilities Guards, a militia controlling and defending oil export terminals, and to open the way for renewed oil production and export. Any unified government would involve under-represented minority tribal and ethnic groups as the UN requires Libyan National Army and Government of National Accord participants to “recuse themselves from political or sovereign arrangements,” allowing for national representation for all Libyans.