Tripoli: The United Nations on Monday urged Libya's warring factions to agree on a unity government after they were offered proposals to ease concerns over regional distribution in a UN-backed power-sharing deal.


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The UN said in a statement after consultations with both sides that a proposed presidential council would be expanded from six to nine members, including a prime minister, five deputy premiers and three senior ministers.


Members of Libya's two rival parliaments were scheduled to meet separately to discuss the UN proposal on Tuesday.


The product of months of negotiations, the UN proposal for a national government includes members of both factions and attempts to reflect Libya's traditional regional balance. Hardliners have resisted the deal.


Four years after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi, the North African state is mired in a conflict between two rival governments and loose coalitions of armed factions that back them in a struggle for control.