UN peace plan gets positive response

Libya's warring factions have reacted positively to a draft peace agreement, the UN envoy said yesterday, as they head for talks in Berlin with world powers anxious for an end to the conflict.

Libya descended into chaos after a 2011 Nato-backed uprising toppled and killed veteran dictator Muammar Gaddafi, with heavily armed former rebels carving out fiefdoms across the country.

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The quest for a deal seeks to prevent the oil-rich and strategic North African nation from crumbling into a failed state.

Bernardino Leon, chief of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya, presented the draft to delegations from the country's rival sides at talks in Morocco late Monday.

With strong support from world leaders, he is pushing for a final accord before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on June 17.

The draft agreement put forward Monday is the fourth, with three previous rounds of negotiations failing to deliver a deal.

The 69-article plan provides for the formation of a transitional government of national unity for a period of one year, renewable for one more year.

It stipulates that the parliament elected last June, most of whose members back the internationally recognised government in Tobruk, should be the legislative authority for the interim period.

But it also provides for the formation of a high council of state, drawn mostly from members of the rival parliament in Tripoli, which "shall express binding opinion with a qualified majority on draft laws".