Libya seeks extra week to form unity govt under UN deal

Libya’s presidential council said on Monday it needs one more week to form a national unity government, after the country’s internationally recognised parliament rejected an initial line-up.

The council, chaired by prime minister-designate Fayez al- Sarraj, had been due to submit the name of a new unity government on Wednesday for approval by the recognised parliament.

A 32-member unity government was announced on January 19 under a UN-brokered deal signed the previous month in Morocco aimed at ending years of bloodshed in oil-rich Libya and which led to the formation of the nine-member council.

But the recognised parliament on January 25 rejected the line-up, saying it was too large and set a 10-day deadline for a smaller cabinet.

Sarraj, a businessman, has been holding a series of consultations with Libyan political players to forge a new government.

On Monday, the presidential council said it had asked the legislature based in the eastern city of Tobruk to grant it an extra week, a council source told AFP. The source said the council “needs more time” to discuss the line-up. World powers have been pressing Libyans to back a unity government as a step towards ending the political chaos that has gripped the country since the 2011 ouster of longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi.