UN envoy says Libya will slide into `disintegration’ if politicians don’t move toward elections

By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. special envoy for Libya has sent a warning to the country’s feuding political actors: If they don’t urgently form a unified government and move toward elections the oil-rich North African nation will slide into “disintegration.” Abdoulaye Bathily told the U.N. Security Council on Thursday there are “numerous alarming signs” of such a slide and urged all political leaders to put aside “self-interests” and come together to negotiate a compromise “to restore the dignity of their motherland.” Libya plunged into chaos after longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi was toppled in 2011 and the country split.