Khartoum: Libya’s internationally recognised Prime Minister Abdullah Al Thinni said Wednesday he was ready to talk to rivals in the conflict-hit country if “all sides” made concessions.
Al Thinni’s government moved to the eastern city of Tobruk in August for security reasons after mostly Islamist militias seized the capital Tripoli and a rival administration was subsequently set up there.
“We open the doors of dialogue with our brothers on the condition that there be concessions from all sides,” he told reporters at Khartoum airport before he left at the end of a three-day visit.
He did not spell out what concessions needed to be made.
Al Thinni and his delegation had been holding talks with Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir and senior officials.
His government accused Khartoum of supporting “terror” groups in Libya last month after a planeload of weapons touched down in the southern town of Kufra, allegedly bound for militias in Tripoli.
Sudan denied the allegations.
Al Thinni smoothed over the spat Wednesday, telling reporters “Khartoum will host a meeting of the neighbouring countries of Libya which will be the basis of the dialogue plan.”
On Tuesday, Sudan’s foreign minister said Al Thinni had accepted his government’s proposal to bring together different groups in Libya for talks to end the fighting.
Since the 2011 uprising that toppled dictator Muammar Gaddafi, Libya’s central authorities have struggled to impose their authority across the vast, mostly desert nation.
Rebel groups who fought Gaddafi have largely refused to give up their weapons, and the government has failed to establish a stable regular army or professional police force. Meanwhile, at least 10 people were killed on Wednesday when rockets struck several residential districts of Libya’s Benghazi city as the army fought with Islamist militias, medics said.
At least 180 people have been killed since pro-government forces launched an offensive on Islamists in Libya’s second-largest city two weeks ago. The nascent army, backed by forces of former army general Khalifa Haftar and armed youths, had made initial gains by expelling Islamists from the airport area and claiming the seizure of one of their strongholds in the port city.
But heavy fighting erupted again on Wednesday in several parts of the city and rockets and artillery shells hit residential districts, residents said.
“Ten bodies were delivered to hospitals,” said a medic.
Benghazi, home to several oil firms, has been a battlefield since May when Haftar declared war on Islamists such as the Ansar Al Sharia - blamed by Washington for a 2012 attack on the US consulate that killed the American ambassador.
Libya is divided between rival tribes and political factions, with two governments vying for legitimacy after an armed group from the western city of Misrata seized Tripoli in August, forcing the internationally recognised Prime Minister Abdullah Al Thinni to move to the east.
The interior ministry tightened security in the eastern city of Tobruk, where the elected parliament is operating, after a car bomb exploded in front of the security headquarters on Tuesday, wounding one person, a security official said.
Tobruk, close to the Egyptian border, has been largely spared the violence gripping many other parts of the country.
The situation in Benghazi and other parts of Libya has been fluid as the army is unable to control militias which often have better arms. Haftar’s forces have planes from Libya’s outdated air force though his opponents say he is backed by Egypt, which is worried about the spread of militants. Haftar denies this.
Most foreign embassies withdrew their staff in the summer when the Misrata-led forces expelled a rival group from Tripoli.