Libyan parliament reunited after years of division

The first Deputy on the House of Representatives (HoR) in Tobruk, Fawzi Al-Nuwairi, has officially taken over the tasks of the HoR headquarters in Tripoli on Sunday.

The HoR confirmed in a brief statement that this step is a new hope to end divisions, which have lasted now for several years.

It added that the procedures for hand-over and were carried out in the city of Tripoli between the First Deputy in the HoR, Fawzi Al-Nuwairi, and the Speaker of Parliament in Tripoli, Hammouda Siyala, to unify the parliament and turn a new page in the history of Libya.

Libya has been beset by chaos since Nato-backed forces overthrew long-serving ruler Col Muammar Gaddafi in October 2011.

The oil-rich country, a key departure point for some of the thousands of migrants travelling to Europe, once had one of the highest standards of living in Africa, with free healthcare and free education.

But the stability that led to its prosperity has been shattered and the capital, Tripoli, was now the scene of fighting between rival forces as negotiations to build a post-Gaddafi Libya stall.