On Wednesday, the Head of the Libyan Presidential Council, Mohamed Al-Mnifi received the British Ambassador to Libya, Caroline Hurndall at his office in Tripoli.
During the meeting, Hurndall affirmed her support for the, “efforts and initiatives of the Presidential Council to get the country out of the current political deadlock.”
She also praised the Presidential Council’s “significant and important role in launching the preparatory meeting for the National Reconciliation Conference in Libya.”
She noted that the meeting, which was held under the auspices of the African Union, “will contribute to expediting the holding of elections, according to a consensual constitutional basis.”
Additionally, Hurndall called on the Libyan Parliament, the High Council of State (HCS), and all active institutions in the country, to “respond to the aspirations of the people, and to quickly put in place the constitutional framework for organizing elections.”
Notably, the preparatory meeting for the National Reconciliation Conference started last Sunday and will continue until Thursday.
The event was attended by Representatives of the African Union, a number of foreign ambassadors, members of the Libyan Parliament, the HCS, tribal Sheikhs, and notables from various regions of Libya.
The opening ceremony witnessed speeches by the Chairman of the African Union, Senegalese President Macky Sall, the Head of the African Union (AU) High-Level Committee on Libya, Denis Sassou N’Guesso, the Chairman of the AU Commission, Moussa Faki, and the Secretary-General of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul-Gheit.
President Sall affirmed the African Union’s “support for the Presidential Council’s initiative to achieve reconciliation in Libya, and support for any comprehensive solution to the prolonged crisis.”
In turn, Al-Mnifi called for pressure to be placed “on all political bodies in Libya in order to achieve comprehensive national reconciliation between all parties.” He also stressed the need to “approve the constitutional basis, in order to achieve the aspirations of the Libyan people in holding elections. Ignoring reconciliation and power-sharing has further complicated the Libyan scene. The solution to the Libyan crisis lies in restoring the spirit of the homeland, and the principle of reparation.”
Al-Mnifi also reaffirmed that the Presidential Council “is still equidistant from all parties, and was never a party to the struggle for power in Libya.”
Talks about setting a new date for elections have come again to the fore, especially after Prime Minister Abdel-Hamid Dbaiba said his government is ready to hold elections in 2023.
Libya failed to hold elections in December 2021, due to disagreements over election laws among rival parties. The country is currently divided between a government appointed by the eastern-based Parliament, and the Tripoli-based government led by Dbaiba.
