The United Nations' top official in conflict-scarred Libya offered Friday to mediate between political rivals in a renewed push for long-delayed elections, warning against "escalation" after a parallel government took office.
Stephanie Williams's call came a day after the country's eastern-based parliament swore in a prime minister in a challenge to interim premier Abdulhamid Dbeibah -- a move observers fear could tip Libya into a new schism.
Williams, UN chief Antonio Guterres's special adviser on Libya, warned in a series of tweets that "the solution to Libya's crisis does not lie in forming rival administrations and perennial transitions."
She said she had asked the eastern-based House of Representatives and the High Council of State (HCS), an upper house based in Tripoli, to nominate six delegates each to form a "joint committee dedicated to developing a consensual constitutional basis".
