Libya's neighbors demand national dialogue to end crisis
CAIRO- Representatives of Libya's neighbors meeting in Cairo on Saturday warned the North African nation's main rival factions against seeking to settle their differences through military force, as Egypt announced that efforts were underway to bring their leaders together to chart a "joint vision" for the country.
The representatives came from Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Algeria, Chad, Niger and Tunisia. Also attending was U.N. envoy to Libya Martin Kobler.
"A comprehensive political dialogue between all Libya parties is the only way out of this crisis," said a final communique after the meeting, saying the delegates "decisively reject" a military solution to the Libyan crisis, a thinly veiled reference to past clashes between forces backing the factions.
Libya has plunged into chaos and lawlessness since the ouster and later killing of Muammar Gadhafi in a 2011 uprising and subsequent civil war, with two rival administrations operating in the east and west of the vast, oil-rich nation. Also operating in Libya is an array of militant Islamic groups, including a local affiliate of the extremist Islamic State.
