Libya's eastern parliament quits UN peace deal with Tripoli

Libya’s eastern parliament voted Tuesday to withdraw its support for a United Nations peace deal and Government of National Accord, stoking concerns that recent violence in the fractured country could escalate.
Abdullah Ablaihig, spokesman for the Tobruk-based, internationally recognized House of Representatives, said the body voted to annul its previous acceptance of a presidential council and the U.N.-backed government currently led by Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj in Tripoli.
The decision comes as Libya’s rival power centres are sliding closer to open conflict, with breakaway militias backed by western Libyan factions seizing oil terminals from the east’s strongman general, whose forces have vowed to take them back.
The Tobruk body called on all Libyan parties to condemn militias that occupied the two key terminals in what it described as “terrorist attacks,” saying it was suspending its participation in peace talks until they did so. The militias, which oppose the parliament, say they intend to take the eastern city of Benghazi and drive Field Marshal Khalifa Hifter from the area. Hifter’s army is allied to the parliament, while the Tripoli government opposes him.
“The GNA unity government is not legitimate any more, as well as its presidential council and anything to do with this entity,” Ablaihig said, urging the international community to lift an embargo on weapons sales to the Libyan army under Hifter.
His forces have deployed more troops in preparation of a counterattack to drive out the militias, known as the Benghazi Defence Brigades, which are comprised of Islamic militants and former rebels recently defeated by Hifter’s forces in Benghazi, Libya’ second largest city. They are also joined by militiamen from the western city of Misrata, and a day earlier announced their intentions from there.