UN extends mission in Libya

The United Nations Security Council decided on extending the U.N. Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) until June 15 to help the country to establish a government.

The resolution requested U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to report to the Security Council on the implementation of this resolution at least every 60 days. 

UNSMIL is a special political mission established in 2011 by the Security Council in its resolution at the request of the Libyan authorities following six months of armed conflict.        

Libya has remained in a state of turmoil since 2011, when a bloody rebellion ended with the fall and death of longtime strongman Moammar Gadhafi. 

Since then, the country's stark political divisions have yielded two rival seats of government, the eastern House of Representatives (HOR) in Tobruk and the rival General National Congress (GNC) in Tripoli, each of which has its own military capacity and legislative assembly. 

Libya's U.N.-backed Presidential Council called on the country's institutions March 12 to begin a transfer of authority to a unity government, and appealed to the international community to stop dealing with any rival powers.

Meanwhile, the British Defense Ministry said in a statement that it has no plans to extend bombing or send troops to Libya after a committee of lawmakers said the nation could deploy a force of 1,000, according to AFP.

The House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee had said that Britain could be part of a 6,000-strong international force in Libya. 

Defense Secretary Michael Fallon was expected to agree Britain's contribution to the force at a conference in Europe this week, the committee added.

But a government spokeswoman said that the Foreign...