A member of Libya’s High Council of State, Saad bin Sharada, has strongly criticised the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), accusing it of obstructing a Libyan-led resolution to the country’s political deadlock.
In comments to Independent Arabia, Ben Sharada insisted that Libya has all the necessary tools to resolve its crisis internally. “We have a constitutional framework and a finalized electoral law,” he said. “But the UN mission and the foreign powers behind it refuse to support a Libyan solution.”
He argued that the real obstacle to progress lies not with Libyan institutions or rival political factions, but with the international community’s refusal to let Libyans chart their own course. “UNSMIL is no longer a neutral party,” Ben Sharada claimed. “It represents the interests of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.”
Ben Sharada expressed concern that UNSMIL continues to dismiss Libyan-driven initiatives, citing the latest example of the Advisory Committee’s proposals to resolve the crisis. According to him, the committee offered four different political plans, but the UN insists on pursuing only one of them, which involves creating a new political dialogue body whose members would be selected by the mission itself.
He likened this to the flawed 2021 Geneva dialogue process, which led to the formation of the current interim government under Abdulhamid Dbeibah. That process, Ben Sherada recalled, was marred by allegations of bribery and political manipulation, undermining its legitimacy from the start.
“The Libyan public now understands that the main obstacle to national elections and political unification is the UN mission,” he said, warning that international interference risks prolonging instability rather than resolving it.
Ben Sharada concluded by calling for all foreign actors to step back and allow Libyans to reach a consensus on their future through inclusive, sovereign dialogue free from external influence.
