On Friday, the US Ambassador to Libya, Richard Norland congratulated the Libyan people on the new year. He added that the United States shared the Libyan people’s disappointment in the postponement of the elections.
In a video published by the US Embassy, Norland said that there were a number of positive developments during the past year, “the ceasefire has held since 20 October 2020. There has been much greater contact between people in the east, west, and south. The Coastal Road is reopened.”
He added that the successful stabilization conference that took place in Tripoli in October, “is a model for the kind of things that can happen in the future.”
“At the same time, the United States shares the disappointment that so many Libyan people feel that the elections scheduled for December 24 have been postponed. We know however that the momentum for elections is still very strong. Two and a half million Libyans have registered to vote, and they want to cast their ballots. We know that Libyan leaders are working very hard to try to reschedule a realistic election in an early time frame. The United States supports that process. We are going to continue to work with Libyan leaders and international partners to help bring this about,” he stated.
“We had an opportunity recently to visit Tripoli. I was there on December 20. One of the highlights was visiting a middle school, where we met with a number of children. It was reminded to me that we are all trying to do together is to build a better future for Libya’s children. They deserve this. I was really struck in that classroom, meeting with the kids and I asked one girl: do you think Libya is a democratic country? and her response struck me, she said ‘Inshallah’ ” the Ambassador said.
