This is an excerpt from an article in our weekly Libya Politics & Security publication.

There is renewed hope in Libya that some sort of progress can finally be made to edge the political dialogue process forwards. This optimism has been generated in large part by the April meeting in Rome between the head of the House of Representatives, Aguila Salah and the head of the Higher State Council (HSC), Abdel-Rahman Al-Swehli (see Libya Politics & Security – 24.04.17). A US-brokered meeting between the Presidency Council head Fayez Serraj and the controversial renagade Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar is also due to talke place in Abu Dhabi on 2 May.

Although nothing concrete emerged out of the Rome meeting, the willingness of the two leaders to actually sit together and talk made it seem as though compromise and co-operation may just be possible. It has certainly created something of a positive vibe.

The House and the HSC have also finally appointed their dialogue committees. The former announced the appointment of its committee last week, while the HSC announced the formation of its own committee on 26 April. The HSC has chosen 13 members who will make up this committee, but is planning to entrust four of these members to lead the negotiations on its behalf.

There also appears to be a general consensus that: Libya has no option but to return to the negotiating table; and that the only way forward is to use the Libyan Political Agreement of December 2015 as a basis for discussions, with a view to the agreement being amended.

There are high hopes, therefore, that a new round of talks is in the offing and could take place as soon as early May. The oasis town of Ghadames is currently being touted as a possible venue. These talks will be a solely domestic Libyan affair and no international or regional representatives will be present.

The resumption of this dialogue process is being pushed particularly hard by Italy, which sponsored the talks between Salah and al-Swehli, and is keen to capitalise on their meeting to try to move things forwards. It is urging the two sides to act and to do so quickly. Following the Rome meeting, Italy wrote to both the House and the HSC calling on them to meet as soon as possible to resolve the crisis. [article continues]