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Militiamen from eastern Libya claim to have seized vehicles belonging to Haftar's forces. By Mahmud TURKIA (AFP)
A conference between the warring Libyan parties, scheduled to open on April 14, is due to be held despite renewed fighting around Tripoli, the UN envoy said on Saturday.
"We are determined" to hold the talks "as planned" unless serious obstacles hamper it, Salame said at a press conference in the capital, a target of a new offensive this week of the strong military man Khalifa Haftar.
Haftar, commander of the self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA), launched an offensive Thursday to seize the capital, owned by a UN-backed UN government and a fan. of militias.
Its forces clashed Friday and Saturday south of the capital with forces that support the country's unity government.
The conference of key UN actors is about to develop a "road map" to lead Libya to parliamentary and presidential elections.
The rival Libyan leaders agreed in Paris last year to hold elections before the end of the year, but this vote never materialized while the two administrations rivals and many militias struggle for power.
Salame said on Saturday: "We want to rebadure the Libyans that we will stay with the Libyan people to make this political process a success without resorting to escalation".
Since the overthrow of dictator Muammar Gaddafi during a NATO-backed uprising in 2011, Libya has been divided into a group of armed groups.
The internationally recognized union government, born of UN-backed negotiations, has struggled to badert its control.
Haftar, who seized much of eastern Libya, supports a rival government and has repeatedly pledged to seize Tripoli and "clean up" "terrorists and mercenaries".
The UN Security Council on Friday urged Haftar to suspend its advance on Tripoli, warning that the military movement was jeopardizing the stability of Libya.
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