Tunisia postpones Libya meeting amid chaos in Tripoli

Tunis (AFP) - Tunisia said Saturday it has postponed an emergency meeting with its North African neighbours to discuss the chaotic situation in Libya, citing a lack of "foresight".

With lawlessness in Libya rising, Tunisia had been due to hold a session on Sunday with other member states of the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU) to find a political solution to the unrest in the mostly desert nation.

The union is made up of Tunisia, Libya, Mauritania, Algeria and Morocco.

"It is deemed preferable to postpone the meeting because there is a lack of foresight on the situation in Libya," foreign ministry spokesman Mokhtar Chouachi said Saturday.

The session was supposed to have been followed by a meeting of several countries' and organisations' special envoys, including those of the United Nations and the European Union, to Libya, but this was also postponed.

No dates for the postponement were given.

Chouachi's comments come amid a political power struggle in Tripoli, where rival governments are claiming control of the country's huge currency reserves from oil and gas, while a rogue general has launched an offensive on jihadists in the eastern city of Benghazi.

Libya is set to hold a vote in less than four weeks to replace the General National Congress, the country's interim parliament that was elected in July 2012 after a NATO-backed uprising toppled the regime of dictator Moamer Kadhafi.