On Saturday, French President, Emmanuel Macron hailed the African endeavours led by Congolese President, Denis Sassou-Nguesso to settle the Libyan crisis.
These remarks came during a joint press conference in Brazzaville, as part of Macron’s current African tour that included Angola and Gabon.
Macron also expressed his readiness to “support the African High-level Committee on Libya, and the country’s Presidential Council’s efforts aimed at moving forward on the path of national reconciliation in pursuit of peace and stability in Libya.”
In turn, the Chair of the African Union High-Level Committee on Libya, President of the Congo, Denis Sassou Nguesso expressed his optimism about the ongoing peace process in Libya. He said: “I believe that we should go to the comprehensive national reconciliation conference.”
In February, the Chief of the African Union Commission (AUC) Moussa Faki Mahamat revealed that AU is organizing a national reconciliation conference for Libya in a bid to restore stability to the conflict-wracked nation.
Faki said, “We have met with the different parties and we are in the process of working with them on a date and place for the national conference.”
The AUC Chief noted that the meeting will be chaired by President Nguesso.
Accordingly, a fairly broad consensus was reached about the initiative adopted by Congo’s President to organize a comprehensive reconciliation conference this year.
Last month, the 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.
