Make-or-break week to end Libya conflict

Muammar-Gaddafi.jpg

Former Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi

from AHMED ZAYED in Tripoli, Libya
Libya Bureau
TRIPOLI, (CAJ News) THIS week is anticipated to be the most crucial for Libya in its bid to end an almost decade-long political crisis.

On Monday (today), representatives of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum will vote on the proposed mechanism that will pave way for elections at the end of this year.

Candidates for the President of the Presidency Council, member of Presidency Council or Prime Minister will emerge from this week’s exercise, with general polls scheduled for December 24.

This week, the vote for candidates will be conducted over a 24-hour period.

The United Nations Support Mission for Libya (UNSMIL) will announce the results on Tuesday, after voting has been completed.

The roadmap, which was charted in Tunisia in November, is hailed as the first critical step to renew the political legitimacy of Libyan institutions and to restore their sovereignty through the holding of national elections.

Stephanie Turco Williams, the head of UNSMIL, said the support mission would be impartial.

It thus would not be involved in composing the lists.

“As I have repeatedly stated, this is a Libyan-Libyan solution. Our role is to support and facilitate,” Williams emphasized.

UNSMIL had convened the advisory committee of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum in Geneva, Switzerland since last Wednesday.

The oil-rich North African country of 6,9 million people has been in conflict since 2011 when Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown and later murdered.

Crisis peaked in 2019 when the rebel Libya National Army launched an offensive against the Government of National Accord in Tripoli.

An estimated 3 000 lives have been lost and 150 000 people displaced.

– CAJ News

 

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