By Libya Herald reporters.
Tripoli, 12 September 2014:
Spain is set to host another part of UNSMIL’s search for a negotiated settlement to Libya’s . . .[restrict]violent divisions.
The conference next Wednesday in Madrid comes after foreign minister Mohamed Abdelaziz met his Spanish opposite number Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo in the Spanish capital lat Tuesday.
UNSMIL’s new chief Bernardino Leon, himself a Spaniard, will be joining representatives from the EU, the Arab League and the so-called 5+5 countries, Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania and Tunisia from North Africa and France, Italy, Malta, Portugal and Spain.
An UNSMIL spokesman told the Libya Herald that the meeting had been set up before Leon, formerly the EU’s special representative to North Africa, took up his new job.
Margallo has said he believes that now is the time to look for a negotiated end to the crisis in Libya. The government in Madrid has also expressed concern that the instability in Libya could spread and pose a security issue for Spain. The format of the conference is being described as “informal”. [/restrict]
