On Wednesday, the United Nations Secretary-General Special Adviser on Libya (SASG), Stephanie Williams described the current situation in Libya as “calm, but fragile.” She urged the international community to help the country on its way towards national reconciliation,
“The situation in Libya is calm, but fragile. I think we can rely on the entire international community to help the Libyans and also to encourage them to continue and energise their efforts towards national reconciliation and transitional justice,” Williams said.
She emphasised that “national reconciliation means allowing the internally displaced to return to their homes. But also allowing many Libyans in the diaspora to return home. Some of that has already happened, but it needs to continue.”
According to Williams, former rival groups are now negotiating with one another. ”We do have Libyans now who are certainly talking to each other, and [we] even had most recently those who bore arms against each other in the last war in 2019-2020, meeting. As there was this meeting in Benghazi last month between General Haftar, the Minister of Interior, and the former government, other political figures in the west,” she said.
The SASG stressed that, “it needs to be sustained and encouraged, the ceasefire needs to be maintained.”
Williams also noted that “the people of Libya are not interested in another interim, transitional government until the Presidential and Parliamentary elections are held, as they are now prioritised. What I have recommended is that the Parliament focus its energies and efforts on the electoral process. I don’t believe that the Libyan people want yet another interim, temporary, transitional government. It would be something like the sixth government since the events of 2011. And again, what the Libyans really want to do is to go to the ballot box.”