Bumpy Road Ahead For U.N.-Proposed Libya Peace Deal
After months of stalled negotiations, the United Nations has handed Libya's warring factions a unity government proposal in what it calls a major step towards ending the crisis, but the applause of Western officials cannot disguise serious obstacles.
The proposal is just that, one hinging on the approval of both sides, and hardliners may treat a weak accord as a chance to drag Libya and its oil wealth deeper into war and division.
Already splits are cropping up. Voices in both camps have criticized a proposal some say the U.N. wants to impose. Others have flatly rejected the deal despite warnings that naysayers will be internationally isolated and maybe even sanctioned.
Those responses may be posturing. But a failure to secure a national government could be disastrous for a North African OPEC state already deeply fractured from the internecine fighting that emerged from the 2011 fall of Muammar Gaddafi.
Libya's once robust oil production has been crippled by fighting, its foreign reserves are evaporating and Western nations are wary of the growing presence of Islamic State militants and people traffickers using the chaos to expand.
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http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/12/us-libya-security-idUSKCN0S61TU20151012?feedType=RSS&feedName=newsOne&google_editors_picks=true
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