ROME — Diplomats trying to help Libya emerge from the chaos that terrorists have exploited said Sunday that rival political factions in the North African country need to accept an immediate cease-fire and embrace a U.N.-brokered plan aimed at creating a “secure, democratic, prosperous and unified state.”
“We refuse to stand by and watch a vacuum filled by terrorists because all of us are unwilling to do what’s necessary to help people who want their freedom, want their independence, want their country back,” U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said after a conference that drew officials from 17 countries, the European Union, the African Union, the Arab League and the United Nations, as well as 15 Libyan leaders.
Members of Libya’s two rival parliaments are set to sign the agreement, mediated by U.N. special envoy Martin Kobler during a session Friday in Tunisia, at a ceremony Wednesday in Morocco.
Libya slid into chaos following the 2011 toppling and killing of dictator Moammar Gadhafi. Since then, it has been torn between an internationally recognized government in eastern Tobruk and an Islamist-backed government in the capital, Tripoli, and now faces threats from Islamic State extremists.
IS is trying to extend its influence beyond areas it now controls, including the city of Sirte. The envisioned government of national accord is seen as critically important to help restore security and mobilize international support to counter the extremists.
The plan for a national unity government “is not something being sprung on the people of Libya,” said Kerry, who hosted the conference with Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni.
“This has been developed by Libyans” through lengthy negotiations and “deserves to breathe the air of a future and of freedom and of possibilities.”
