Geneva, 28 January 2015 - Representatives of municipal and local councils from a number of towns and cities from across Libya gathered in Geneva on Wednesday 28 January 2015 to discuss how to support confidence-building measures agreed to in the earlier political dialogue.

The meeting is another track of UN-facilitated Libyan political dialogue held at the Palais des Nations, whose first round convened in Geneva in mid-January and another round earlier in the week. The dialogue aims at finding ways to end Libya's political and security crisis and restore stability to the country.

The mayors and representatives of councils were briefed about the dialogue process by Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya, Bernardino Leon, and a number of Libyans who participated in the political dialogue meeting that concluded on Tuesday.

There was a frank discussion in which municipal and local council representatives outlined the difficulties their constituencies are facing due to the conflict, including shortages in services and in food, as well as insecurity. But with the same forceful demonstration of the suffering of the population they displayed there was an equal determination to overcome the differences as the discussions moved from the emotional narratives to the presentation of concrete ideas to support the confidence-building measures to improve the lives of the people.

The representatives will resume discussions on Thursday at the UN Office at Geneva.