UN postpones Libyan national conference due to fighting

A Libyan national conference aimed at drawing up a roadmap towards elections has been postponed because of fighting raging near the capital, the UN said on Tuesday. “We cannot ask people to take part in the conference during gunfire and airstrikes,” AFP quoted UN envoy Ghassan Salame as saying. The envoy expressed hope the meeting would take place “as soon as possible.” The UN was planning to hold a conference in the southwestern town of Ghadames from April 14 to 16. The eastern Libyan National Army of Khalifa Haftar seized the oil-rich south earlier this year before heading toward Tripoli this month.