LEADERS of two rival governments in Libya agreed on Sunday to form a single unified government.

The move signals a step towards ending the political stalemate that has gripped the country for more than a decade.

In a joint statement, the leaders said that they had agreed on the “necessity” of forming a new unified government that would be responsible for organising and supervising elections.

The leaders who reached the deal were Presidential Council president Mohamed Menfi and High State Council head Mohamed Takala, who are both based in Tripoli, and Aguila Saleh, speaker of the House of Representatives in Benghazi.

The talks in the Egyptian capital Cairo were brokered by the Arab League and led by its secretary-general Ahmed Aboul Gheit.

Mr Menfi told the media after the meeting: “The measures that were agreed upon today are a very important beginning.

“They are results that live up to the ambition of Libyans to hold elections.”

Libya has had little peace since a 2011 Nato attack that led to the ousting of the country’s long-time leader Colonel Muammar Gadaffi and it split in 2014 between eastern and western factions, with rival administrations governing in each area.