Libya camps agree to open candidacy process for key state posts

Representatives from rival Libyan camps said a candidacy process would open Tuesday for key institutional appointments, after a new round of talks in Morocco on ending nearly a decade of conflict.

The process, set to run until February 2, aims to quickly fill several strategic posts in order to facilitate collaboration with an interim executive body set to be elected next week in Geneva, a joint statement said Saturday.

Oil-rich Libya has been riven by civil war since a NATO-backed uprising that ousted long-time dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

The UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) is based in the capital, while a House of Representatives, which does not recognise the Tripoli administration, is based in the east.

A fragile ceasefire between the two sides, agreed in Geneva last October, has largely held, despite threats by eastern military strongman Khalifa Haftar to resume fighting.

The talks that opened Friday in Bouznika, south of the Moroccan capital Rabat, bring together representatives from the Tobruk-based House of Representatives and the Tripoli-based High Council of State, which advises the GNA.

The GNA had said the negotiations would centre on appointments to the country's "sovereign" posts.

The joint statement said the positions included the heads of the central bank, electoral commission, anti-corruption commission, supreme court and administrative control authority as well as the attorney general.

The parties also agreed to form working groups to deal with the candidacy process for the posts, which have long been points of contention between the rival administrations, the statement added.

Once finalised, the candidacies will be presented to representatives of the two sides.

The talks are the latest in several inter-Libyan dialogues held since September in the North African kingdom. 

At separate talks in Geneva earlier this week, Libyan representatives voted to pass a mechanism to choose an interim executive to govern until elections planned for December 24.

At UN-backed talks in Egypt Wednesday, Libyan envoys agreed to hold a constitutional referendum before the December polls.