Morocco-brokered Libya talks ‘temporarily suspended’

10 Sep 2020; MEMO: Talks between Libya’s two rival administrations being held in the Moroccan capital Rabat, were suspended and due to restart today, official sources reported yesterday.

“The Libyan Dialogue, which has been proceeding in a positive and constructive manner, has achieved important understandings,” Maghreb Arabe Presse quoted the Libyan representative of the High Council of State, Mohamed Khalifa Najm, as saying.

Najm added that the two negotiating parties were “hoping to achieve tangible results that would pave the way for the completion of the comprehensive political settlement process in Libya.”

The London-based Asharq Al-Awsat recently quoted well-informed sources as saying that there were  “differences between the negotiating parties related to the distribution of sovereign positions and the headquarters of the regulatory and government agencies.”

The same sources have said that the dialogue was “facing difficulties due to the refusal of members of the Supreme Council of State to move the headquarters of the Libyan Central Bank outside the capital, Tripoli.”

Libya has been divided since 2014 between the Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli and a rival eastern administration in Benghazi, where Libyan National Army (LNA) commander Khalifa Haftar has dominated. There are also two separate Houses of Representatives each based in one city.