The United States, British and Italian foreign ministers on Monday began talks with Libyan Prime Minister Fayez Seraj, with the aim of tackling a political stand-off preventing Tripoli’s UN-brokered unity government from expanding its authority outside the capital.
Seraj and his two deputies met British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and their Italian counterpart, Paolo Gentiloni, at the British Foreign Office in London. They made no comment before the meeting.
Libya has been riddled by constant fighting since the 2011 ouster of former president Muammar Gaddafi.
The ex-rebels that fought Gaddafi turned on each other, with each faction wanting to take control of the country.
Two side-effects of Libya’s protracted disorder are of major concern abroad – an uncontrolled flow towards Europe of migrants setting off in boats from Libya’s lawless shores where people smugglers operate, and an infiltration of Islamic State militants now holding patches of the country’s territory.
