On Saturday, United States (US) Assistant Secretary of State, Barbara A. Leaf, expressed the US’ opposition to steps taken by any Libyan party that might lead to an escalation of violence.
This came during a meeting with the Libyan Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Interim Government of National Unity (GNU), Najla Al-Mangoush, in Tripoli.
During the talks, the US Assistant Secretary of State stressed the need for Libyan actors and international partners to intensify efforts to restore momentum towards early elections.
She stressed the need for all parties to respond to the Secretary-General’s call to prioritise maintaining stability in Libya.
On the 10th of February, the Libyan Parliament announced the unanimous appointment of Fathi Bashagha as the new Prime Minister. However, rival Prime Minister, Abdelhamid Al-Dbaiba, warned that the appointment of a new interim government could lead to war and chaos in the country. He renewed his pledge to only hand power over to an elected government.
Presidential and parliamentary elections, originally set for December last year, were meant to cap a UN-led peace process following the end of the last major round of violence in 2020.
However, the vote never took place due to several contentious candidacies and deep disagreements, over the polls’ legal basis, between rival power centers in the east and west of the country.
Tensions have been rising for months in Libya as two Prime Ministers vie for power; raising fears of renewed conflict two years after a landmark truce ended the attempt of the commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA), Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar to seize Tripoli by force.
The clashes involved armed groups loyal to incumbent Prime Minister Al-Dbaiba, and others following his rival Bashagha, named in February as Prime Minister by a Parliament based in Libya’s East.
Libya has been mired in conflict for long stretches since Moammar Gaddafi was deposed and killed in a NATO-backed uprising in 2011. Plagued by divisions between competing institutions in the East and West, Libya remains split between rival forces, with two opposing executives in place since February.