The United Nations (UN) Secretary-Special General’s Representative for Libya affirmed the UN Support Mission in Libya’s (UNSMIL) support for Libyan reconciliation efforts.
In a tweet posted on Friday, Abdoulaye Bathily said he met Abdullah Allafi, Deput Head of the Libyan Presidential Council, to discuss steps aimed at bringing stability to Libya including through the national reconciliation process.
“I commended the Presidential Council for its efforts and reiterated the importance that all parties commit to a comprehensive national reconciliation process. I reaffirmed UNSMIL’s support for these efforts as a contribution towards long-term stability and peace in Libya,” Bathily said on his Twitter account.
Bathily visited Libya to participate in a three-day preparatory forum for the Comprehensive Conference of National Reconciliation. This was also attended by Allafi, the Council’s Adviser for National Reconciliation, Muhammad Hassan Al-Labat, and representatives of different Libyan parties.
Last week, the Head of Libya’s Presidential Council, Mohamed Al-Mnifi, kicked off the preparatory meeting for the National Reconciliation Conference in Libya.
The event was attended by Representatives of the African Union (AU), a number of foreign Ambassadors, members of the Libyan Parliament, the High Council of State (HCS), tribal Sheikhs, and notables from various regions of Libya.
The opening ceremony witnessed speeches by the Chairman of the AU, Senegalese President Macky Sall, the Head of the 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 AU’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, the Chairman of the AU Commission, Moussa Faki, affirmed that the “national reconciliation file constitutes the main step toward elections in Libya.”
During the preparatory meeting for the National Reconciliation Conference in Libya, Faki said, “we will always be with Libya, which has a pioneering role in establishing the AU. The AU will be grief-stricken if the presence of foreign forces continues on Libyan territory.”
He added that “the way to solve the crisis is through national reconciliation, not sharing positions and power.”
Libya has been in chaos since a NATO-backed uprising toppled longtime leader Moammar Gaddafi in 2011. The county has for years been split between rival administrations, each backed by rogue militias and foreign governments.
The current stalemate grew out of the failure to hold elections in December, and the refusal of Prime Minister Abdelhamid Al-Dbaiba, who is leading the transitional government, to step down. In response, the country’s eastern-based Parliament appointed a rival Prime Minister, Fathi Bashagha, who has for months sought to install his government in Tripoli.
