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Bloomberg
Libyan Prime Minister Fayez Al-Sarraj called on Sunday for a national conference to end a war that threatens to rip the North African oil producer apart amid an offensive by eastern-based strongman Khalifa Haftar.
Al-Sarraj, in a televised news briefing in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, proposed the conference be held with the help of the United Nations and that it decide a roadmap for elections.
The effort marked the
latest bid by the embattled premier, who heads a government backed by the international community, to end the ongoing crisis that reached a new high after Haftar’s Libyan National Army launched an offensive on Tripoli after having secured much of the rest of the country.
Al Sarraj stressed anew that there was no military solution to the current crisis and that only a political raodmap would bring about stability. At the same time, he called for a probe into what he said could constitute war crimes by Haftar’s forces.
Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar has said his offensive on Tripoli won’t stop and political discussions can’t resume until the country’s militias have been disarmed.
Libya descended into chaos after longtime leader Moammar Qaddafi was removed and killed in a 2011 uprising. It’s been ruled since 2014 by two feuding administrations — Sarraj in the West and Haftar in the East — as well as dozens of regional militias. Haftar’s self-styled Libyan National Army launched its offensive on Tripoli April 4 after first sweeping through the south of the country.