Factional Risks Hover as Libya's UN Peace Process Advances

FILE: Representatives of Libya’s rival administrations take part in a meeting in Morocco, on October 6. (AFP)
FILE: Representatives of Libya’s rival administrations take part in a meeting in Morocco, on October 6. (AFP)
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Factional Risks Hover as Libya's UN Peace Process Advances

FILE: Representatives of Libya’s rival administrations take part in a meeting in Morocco, on October 6. (AFP)
FILE: Representatives of Libya’s rival administrations take part in a meeting in Morocco, on October 6. (AFP)

Libyans working under a UN peace process on Tuesday agreed a mechanism to choose a new temporary government to oversee the run-up to elections late this year, in the hope that it can avoid being scuppered by factional rivalries.

It follows weeks of negotiation after a political dialogue in Tunis in November among 75 Libyans, selected by the UN Libya mission, charted a roadmap towards elections but failed to agree on how to form an interim government.

Libya has known little peace since Moammar al-Gaddafi was overthrown in 2011, in an uprising backed by NATO, and has been split since 2014 between warring factions that have set up rival administrations in the west and east.

The mechanism to choose a transitional government was proposed on Saturday by a smaller committee, drawn from the political dialogue members, that met in Geneva last week. It was voted on by the full body on Monday and Tuesday.

It means the group will soon turn to the nomination and choice of a unified government to prepare for the Dec. 24 presidential and parliamentary elections - a process that is no less fraught with potential for bitter disputes.

Both the main coalitions in western and eastern Libya are honeycombed with rivalries, and any move that cuts out powerful figures could unleash a new bout of the fighting that has already sucked in other powers.

The country is split between the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA), which is backed by Turkey, and the east-based Libyan National Army (LNA) commanded by Khalifa Haftar.



EU Has Reached Agreement to Improve Aid Access for Gaza, Kallas Says

Displaced Palestinians fetch water at a distribution point in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on July 10, 2025. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)
Displaced Palestinians fetch water at a distribution point in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on July 10, 2025. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)
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EU Has Reached Agreement to Improve Aid Access for Gaza, Kallas Says

Displaced Palestinians fetch water at a distribution point in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on July 10, 2025. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)
Displaced Palestinians fetch water at a distribution point in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on July 10, 2025. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)

The European Union has reached an agreement with Israel to improve the humanitarian situation in the Gaza strip, including increasing trucks for aid and opening crossing points and certain aid routes, the EU's top diplomat said on Thursday.

"These measures are or will be implemented in the coming days, with the common understanding that aid at scale must be delivered directly to the population and that measures will continue to be taken to ensure that there is no aid diversion to Hamas," Kaja Kallas said in a statement.