On Thursday, the United States Special Envoy to Libya, Richard Norland reiterated his strong support for the efforts of UN Envoy to Libya, Abdoulaye Bathily, to secure elections this year.
Norland’s remarks came during his meeting with the Deputy Head of the Libyan Presidential Council, Mousa Al-Koni in Tripoli.
They discussed how the new US Strategy to Prevent Conflict and Promote Stability will bring focus to historically marginalized areas of Libya.
The US diplomat added that such a strategy “underscores the US commitment to stand with the Libyan people.” He noted that this initiative “supports progress toward a democratically elected unified government that can deliver public services and promote economic growth in all areas.”
US President, Joe Biden submitted to Congress 10-Year Plans aimed at implementing US strategies to prevent conflict and promote stability across six nations, including Libya, according to a statement issued by the White House on Friday.
The plan orients US efforts toward the ultimate long-term political goal that Libya is “governed by a democratically elected, unified, representative, and internationally recognized authority that is able to ensure human rights, deliver public services, promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, secure its borders, and partner with the United States and international community on shared priorities.”
However, the plan acknowledges the need for an “incremental, tailored, and scalable approach, given the current national-level political uncertainties, and practical limitations for US engagement and assistance within Libya.”
In the near term, the plan focuses on a “grass-roots, localized approach to support citizen-responsive democratic local governance, and nascent but promising locally-led reconciliation initiatives.” Southern Libya is the focal point of initial sequenced efforts which incrementally build toward progress in all three major regions of Libya, and ultimately through the critical sub-regions of the Sahel and Coastal West Africa.
The plan will focus over time on creating the necessary conditions to hold democratic elections over the longer term (e.g., citizen engagement, consensus-building, constitutional reform, violence mitigation, and reconciliation efforts). As well as addressing political roadblocks that have obstructed credible elections to date.
The plan will promote inclusion, seeking to increase the participation and representation of women, youths, and other groups traditionally marginalized and underrepresented in Libya’s polity. Fostering more inclusive political and economic processes in Libya will help build the resilience needed for longer-term peace and stability.
This plan’s tailored and scalable approach will be applied across four overarching objectives that will guide diplomatic, development, and security engagement.
The United States will marshal and align diplomacy, foreign assistance, and other tools to advance these four objectives in a sequenced fashion.
The US government will work to increase engagement with and support for sub-national, local municipal and civil society actors, especially in southern Libya at the start, who are advancing reconciliation, community-based dialogues, and inclusive service delivery.
This support will include new efforts to boost economic opportunity and financial inclusion for marginalized groups. At the same time, the US government will continue to marshal support, including through the UN-led political process, for a political solution among Libya’s leaders.
