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| Delegates From Libya’s Rival Factions Sign Deal for Unity Government | Delegates From Libya’s Rival Factions Sign Deal for Unity Government |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| SKHIRAT, Morocco — Delegates from Libya’s warring factions signed a United Nations-brokered agreement to form a national government on Thursday, a deal that Western powers hope will bring stability and will help fight a growing Islamic State presence. | SKHIRAT, Morocco — Delegates from Libya’s warring factions signed a United Nations-brokered agreement to form a national government on Thursday, a deal that Western powers hope will bring stability and will help fight a growing Islamic State presence. |
| Four years after Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s fall, Libya is deeply fractured, with two rival governments — a self-declared one in the capital, Tripoli, and an internationally recognized one in the east — each backed by coalitions of former rebels and militia groups. | Four years after Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s fall, Libya is deeply fractured, with two rival governments — a self-declared one in the capital, Tripoli, and an internationally recognized one in the east — each backed by coalitions of former rebels and militia groups. |
| The United Nations-backed deal calls for a presidential council to lead a unified government, but hard-liners in both factions reject it and questions remain about how it will be carried out in a country where rival armed factions are crucial to power. | |
| Chants of “Libya, Libya” erupted as representatives from both parliaments signed the accord along with local councils and political parties in the Moroccan coastal town of Skhirat, after more than a year of negotiations. | |
| “The doors remain wide open to those who are not here today,” the United Nations envoy Martin Kobler said at the ceremony attended by regional foreign ministers. “The signing of the political agreement is only the first step.” | |
| Western officials believe war fatigue, promises of foreign aid, the strain on Libya’s oil economy and the common threat of the Islamic State militant group will help build momentum for the national government and bring opponents on board. | |
| Under the deal, a nine-member presidential council will form a government with the current, eastern-based House of Representatives as the main legislative chamber and a State Council as a second consultative chamber. The presidential council will name a new government in a month, and a United Nations Security Council resolution will endorse it. | |
| But the agreement faces questions about how representative the proposed government will be, how it will set up in Tripoli and how various armed factions on the ground will react to a government critics say was imposed on Libya. | |
| Since revolution ousted Colonel Qaddafi, Libya has struggled with almost constant instability as heavily armed brigades of former rebels and their political allies squabbled for control. | |
| Battered by protests and attacks, oil production that accounts for most government revenue is now less than half of the 1.6 million barrels per day level before 2011. | |
| But last year, fighting intensified when one armed faction took over Tripoli, set up its own government and reinstated the old parliament, the General National Congress. Since then, the recognized government and elected House of Representatives operate out of the east of the country. | |
| In the chaos, Islamic State militants have steadily expanded their presence, taking over the city of Sirte, attacking a hotel and a prison in Tripoli, ransacking oil fields to the south of Surt and executing a group of Egyptian Christians. |