Date Of Libyan National Reconciliation Conference Could Be Announced Later Monday- Chergui

The date of the Libyan national reconciliation conference that will be hosted jointly by the African Union (AU) and the United Nations could be announced later on Monday at the 32nd AU summit, AU Peace and Security Commissioner Smail Chergui said

ADDIS ABABA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 11th February, 2019) The date of the Libyan national reconciliation conference that will be hosted jointly by the African Union (AU) and the United Nations could be announced later on Monday at the 32nd AU summit, AU Peace and Security Commissioner Smail Chergui said.

"I think that at this stage, maybe today just the decision will come out, you will have a date that we will decide for a meeting of this conference, of this national inclusive reconciliation, and then it will obviously be followed by the elections. All of this will have to take place this year," Chergui said during a press briefing at the summit.

Moussa Faki Mahamat, the chairman of the AU Commission, said Sunday that the union believed it necessary to convene the conference as soon as possible.

Libya has been gripped by conflict since 2011 when the country's longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown and killed. The eastern part of the country is governed by the parliament, backed by the Libyan National Army and located in Tobruk. The UN-backed Government of National Accord, headed by Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj, operates in the country's west and is headquartered in Tripoli.

The United Nations tried to organize the first nation-wide presidential and parliamentary election since Gaddafi's death on December 10, however, UN Envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame in early November warned the UN Security Council that the deadline could not be met and suggested postponing the elections until next spring.