World Bulletin / News Desk

The UN peace envoy for Libya, Bernardino Leon, said the latest round of peace talks launched in Morocco on Thursday could prove to be the "moment of truth".

"We are starting a new round of talks in the Libya process, which we hope will be the final round, the moment of truth for the parties," he said in Skhirat near the Moroccan capital.

"We are very hopeful that they will understand that this deadline of 20 September must be the last one, must be the one that will allow Libya to get out of this crisis."

According to Leon on Thursday, ISIL fighters had "in the last hours" taken control of the offices of the Libyan central bank and several private banks in the coastal city of Sirte, calling it a "very concerning and very serious development".

Leon's peace plan calls for an accord to be reached by 20 September, ahead of the United Nations General Assembly, with the new government coming into force a month later.

A two-year transitional government would work towards organising parliamentary elections, under the terms being discussed.

Leon said a deal on creating a unity government could be reached "in the coming days", but that difficult work remained before a final accord.

Previous talks have failed, with either the GNC or Tobruk, saying that the proposals unfairly favoured the other side.