World leaders meet to push for elections in Libya

 

World powers meet in France on Friday to push for elections in Libya by year-end and endorse efforts to remove foreign forces from the oil-producing nation despite growing political wrangling that threatens to unravel a year-long peace process.

Libya’s election targeted for December 24 was set through a U.N.-backed roadmap adopted last year that also established an interim unity government to take over from rival administrations in east and west that had been warring for years.

The process is seen as a chance to end the decade of instability and warfare following the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that ousted Muammar Gaddafi and has since drawn in regional powers in a threat to wider Mediterranean stability.

Almost 30 countries and organizations will be in Paris, including Libya’s neighbors, and countries that have been split over the conflict.