On Saturday, the Head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), Ján Kubiš, addressed a speech to the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF). In this speech he praised the LPDF’s work during the last phase, which enabled Libya to reach the current stage in record time.
In his speech to the LPDF, Kubiš said, “you have achieved something that no one expected, not only some months but maybe even weeks ago. You achieved a way towards the unification of the country, towards the sovereignty of the country you managed to get one government for the whole country. You managed to get a session of the parliament that was split, into a unified session. You managed to get the confirmation of the new government in a unity session of the Parliament.”
The United Nations (UN) envoy stated that the LPDF is relevant and will be necessary in the future. He called for an evaluation of the past stage in order to do what is necessary within the roadmap for the next phase, supported by the international community.
Kubiš stressed the need for the country to have a clear constitutional basis and legal framework for elections by the 1st of July, to be able to ensure orderly preparations for the elections to take place.
UNSMIL’s Head explained that the “work of the Legal Committee, the continuation of its work with a clear focus on sound proposals for the constitutional basis for elections is, might and most probably will prove critical in finding a way for this issue.”
Kubiš also said that the national reconciliation file is of great importance. He recommended that a woman take over the presidency of this committee, stressing that the Head of the Presidential Council Mohamed, Al-Mnifi and Prime Minister, Abdelhamid Dbaiba considered this step one of their first priorities.
Kubiš added that Libya must finally be fully sovereign without any unwanted foreign presence. At this point in time we need to work for the full implementation of the ceasefire and the withdrawal of all foreign forces and mercenaries from Libyan soil.