The U.S. Treasury Department said on Monday it had imposed sanctions on Libyan Islamist commander Salah Badi, accusing him of undermining security by directing attacks on groups aligned with Libya's U.N.-backed Government of National Accord.
Migrants refusing to leave a cargo ship docked in Libya said on Wednesday they would rather die than be returned to land, as the coast guard began disembarking some of those on board.
Libya could hold elections next spring, Italian Foreign Affairs Minister Enzo Moavero said on Wednesday, after Italy hosted a two-day conference in Palermo to try to stabilize the troubled North African country.
Libya's two main rival leaders met for the first time in more than five months at a conference hosted by Italy on Tuesday and the prime minister endorsed a United Nations plan for an election next year.
Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar, a key player in a settlement in Libya, has committed himself to a U.N. action plan and to holding a national conference early next year prior to elections, U.N. Libyan envoy Ghassan Salame said on Tuesday.
Turkey has withdrawn from a two-day summit about Libya that is being held in Italy with "deep disappointment", Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay told reporters on Tuesday, objecting to what he said was Ankara's exclusion from some of the talks.
Eastern Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar has arrived in Italy for meetings with heads of state, but will not attend a conference on Libya hosted by Rome, his command said on Tuesday.
Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj, whose government is based in the west of the country, met the commander who rules most of the east, Khalifa Haftar, on Tuesday in Palermo, Sicily, an Italian government source said.
The rulers of Libya's rival east and west were gathering at a summit for the first time in more than five months on Monday, a week after the United Nations buried plans to hold an election next month.
Eastern Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar, a key figure in the oil producer, arrived on Monday evening in the Sicilian city of Palermo for a summit hosted by Italy to discuss the Libyan conflict.