UN Libya envoy resigns, citing health issues
A file photo taken on April 06, 2019 shows Ghassan Salame, UN special envoy for Libya speaks during a press conference in the Libyan capital Tripoli. (AFP Photo)


The United Nations special envoy for Libya, Ghassan Salame, said Monday he had resigned, citing his health.

He said on Twitter he had tried for two and a half years to reunite Libyans and prevent foreign intervention, preserving the unity of the country.

The U.N.-brokered diplomatic dialogues initiated to find a political and peaceful solution to the nine-year conflict in Libya seem to remain inconclusive as the latest round of talks ended without any result.

Libya's fragile truce nearly collapsed Friday as Tripoli came under attack, Salame said earlier, warning that the violence threatens the nascent talks among the country's warring sides.

Fighting has continued on the ground despite a call for a truce by Turkey and Russia starting on Jan. 12 and an international summit on Libya in Berlin on Jan. 19 aimed at reducing international interference.

In a statement earlier this week, the U.N.-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA)'s health ministry said 21 civilians were killed, including women and children, and 31 injured in attacks by putschist Gen. Khalifa Haftar's militias from Jan. 9 to Feb. 20.

The internationally recognized GNA has been under attack by Haftar's forces since last April, with more than 1,000 lives lost in the violence and more than 300,000 civilians displaced.

Since the ousting of late ruler Moammar Gadhafi in 2011, two seats of power have emerged in Libya: Haftar in eastern Libya, supported mainly by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, and the GNA in Tripoli, which enjoys U.N. and international recognition.