Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme in Libya (UNDP), Marc-André Franche said he is “very encouraged to grow partnerships with Benghazi and Derna Construction Fund.”
In a tweet, Franche added that UNDP Libya “provides technical support, advice and operational capacity for the fund to drive reconstruction areas damaged by conflict. We need to pool national and international efforts to rebuild and move forward.”
Last month, UNDP signed an agreement with the Embassy of Spain to support the People project.
This aims to provide technical and advisory support for the Libyan electoral process, which is being supervised by the United Nations Support Mission (UNSMIL).
The signing of the agreement was attended by the Head of the Libyan High National Elections Commission (HNEC), Emad Al-Sayeh.
It was signed by Franche, and the Spanish Ambassador to Libya, Javier García-Larrache.
Days ago, UN Secretary-General, António Guterres stressed the “urgent need for a political will to break the protracted political stalemate in Libya, and achieve progress on multiple fronts.”
Addressing the latest meeting of the High-level Committee on Libya, taking place in Addis Ababa, the UN Chief stated that “progress is sorely needed towards holding elections and advancing gains in security, national reconciliation, and human rights.” He added that the UN “continues to be committed to Libyan-owned and Libyan-led solutions.”
Guterres noted that the UN has been “totally committed to overcoming the misunderstandings of the past. We have no agenda and no goal but one: to secure the right of the Libyan people to live in peace, to vote in free and fair elections, and to share in the prosperity of their country.”
“I share the growing frustrations of the Libyan people,” the Secretary-General said. “The absence of elections worsens economic insecurity, heightens political instability, risks renewed conflict, and raises the spectre of partition. But, without an agreement, the United Nations, in close collaboration with key Libyan stakeholders, the African Union and international partners, should propose and pursue alternative mechanisms towards finding solutions,” Guterres noted.
“There is no alternative to elections,” he stated. “They remain the only credible pathway to legitimate, unified governance.”
The UN Chief affirmed that the priority of the 5+5 Joint Military Commission (JMC) “must be the complete withdrawal of foreign fighters and mercenaries from Libya,” recalling that external interference had fuelled Libya’s descent into conflict.