GENEVA, Switzerland — The
UN called for a “final and
courageous effort” to break the deadlock over the rules for long-awaited
elections in war-torn Libya, as talks between rival institutions began in
Geneva.
اضافة اعلان
Parliament speaker
Aguila Saleh and President of the High Council of State Khaled Al-Mishri are
meeting at the UN’s Palais des Nations for two days of talks to discuss the
draft constitutional framework for elections.
Presidential and
parliamentary elections, originally set for December last year, were meant to
cap a UN-led peace process following the end of the last major round of
violence in 2020.
But the vote never
took place due to several contentious candidacies and deep disagreements, over
the polls’ legal basis, between rival power centers in the east and west of the
country.
“Your presence here
today is an example of responsible leadership,” the UN’s top
Libya official
Stephanie Williams said as she opened the talks.
“You have now reached
a critical stage of what has been a long and difficult path.
“It is now the time
to make a final and courageous effort to ensure that this historic compromise
takes place, for the sake of Libya, the Libyan people, and the credibility of
its institutions.”
She said the two
figureheads needed to find consensus on timelines, modalities, and milestones
to guarantee a clear path toward holding national elections as soon as
possible.
A week of talks
between the Tripoli-based High Council and Saleh’s eastern-based
House of Representatives, aimed at agreeing on a constitutional basis for a vote, ended
last Monday without a deal.
The prospect of
elections appears as distant as ever since the House of Representatives,
elected in 2014, appointed a rival government to replace that of interim prime
minister
Abdulhamid Dbeibah, arguing that his mandate has expired.
After failing to
enter Tripoli in an armed stand-off in May, the rival administration has taken
up office further east in Sirte — hometown of dictator Muammar Gaddafi, whose
overthrow in a
NATO-backed revolt in 2011 plunged the country into years of
often violent chaos.
House of
Representatives-backed premier Fathi Bashagha said Wednesday in a letter to
UN chief Antonio Guterres that he would “now be leading all efforts to bring
elections to Libya at the earliest possible opportunity”.
Recent weeks have
seen repeated skirmishes between armed groups in Tripoli, prompting fears of a
return to full-scale conflict.
Read more Region and World
Jordan News
.jpg)
.jpg)
