UN urges Libyans to work for peace at National Conference

The U.N. Security Council is calling on all Libyans to put aside their differences and use next month’s National Conference to work toward peace.

The council on Tuesday urged all those attending the April 14-16 conference in Ghadames near the border with Algeria “to come together to engage in good faith in this Libyan-led, Libyan-owned process.”

The U.N. envoy for Libya, Ghassan Salame, urged rival factions last week to seize the conference’s “crucial opportunity” to unite the country and chart a roadmap to elections and peace after years of division and chaos.

If the opportunity isn’t seized, he warned that the only options are “prolonged stalemate or conflict.”

The Security Council backed Salame’s efforts “to mediate a political way forward in Libya that would lead to credible and peaceful elections.”