Libya’s rival political camps signed a reconciliation agreement Thursday following months of negotiations.

Libya’s rival political camps signed a reconciliation agreement Thursday following months of negotiations.

The signing ceremony, held in the Moroccan city of Skhirat, included both Libya’s Tripoli-based General National Congress (GNC) and the Tobruk-based House of Representatives.

UN envoy to Libya Martin Kobler attended the ceremony along with a number of foreign ministers, including Moroccan FM Salaheddine Mezouar, Turkish FM Mevlut Cavusoglu and Qatari FM Khalid al-Attiyah.

The agreement calls for a one-year transitional phase to last until a referendum on a new constitution and legislative elections can be held.

Libya has remained in a state of turmoil since a bloody uprising ended the decades-long rule of dictator Moammar Gaddafi in late 2011.

Since then, the country’s stark political divisions have yielded two rival seats of government, each with its own institutions and military capacities.

According to the terms of the new agreement, the two sides are now expected to establish a unity government to run the country’s affairs during the transitional period.  

Ali Zaatari, deputy head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), commented on Libya’s recently-penned reconciliation agreement.

"The political deal struck between the two sides in Libya is not the end but the beginning of the road," Ali Zaatari, deputy head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), said after attending the 2nd Libya Experts Development Cooperation Forum in Tunis.

"Libya will overcome its problems through goodwill and its international partnerships," he said.