Stephanie Williams, Acting Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya, attends a meeting of the Libyan Joint Military Commission in Ghadames, Libya.
The warring Libyan parties met under the auspices of the UN in the framework of the Joint Military Commission from November 2-4 in the city of Ghadames, in western Libya.
The objective of this meeting between the military representatives of the Government of National Accord and of the armed group called the Libyan National Army – the first organized on Libyan territory – was to discuss the modalities of implementation of the ceasefire.
After four rounds of negotiations organized since February, the delegations of the two Libyan parties had signed, a cease-fire agreement on October 23, in Geneva. UN Secretary-General António Guterres and the United Nations Security Council welcomed this agreement and called on the signatory parties to respect their commitment to this ceasefire.
“We can see the benefits, the fruits of the work of the Joint Military Commission on the ground here in Libya,” said the Acting Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General to Libya, Stephanie Williams, during a speech in a press conference Tuesday.
According to the Special Representative, all oil facilities are now open, as is oil production. The National Oil Corporation has previously reported that daily production is 800,000 barrels per day. “We are working on the resumption of flights to allow the inhabitants of the south to have a connection with other cities in Libya”, she added, also noting the continuous exchange of detainees since the signing of the agreement of cease-fire.
For Ms. Williams, the Ghadames meeting “is the start of a process that will require determination, courage, confidence, and a lot of work”. The Special Representative who also heads the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) noted the “determination” of the two parties gathered in this Joint Military Commission to implement the ceasefire agreement.
The ceasefire agreement reached in Geneva last month sets out a timetable for the departure of mercenaries and foreign forces from Libyan territory. “We now have detailed discussions on the monitoring mechanism for all of this, but there is a clear Libyan sovereign demand [in this regard] right now that we have seen in the ceasefire agreement itself. Ms. Williams said.
“The onus, the responsibility rests with the countries and elements that are responsible for bringing these mercenaries and these forces into Libya,” she said. “They must respect the Libyan demand”, she insisted.
The UN envoy stressed that “extreme confidence” in the ability of parties to work together must now translate into progress on the ground, noting that there is still a lot of work to be done.
Political talks on November 9 in Tunis
In addition to the military negotiations, the Libyan parties must restart political talks. An Inter-Libyan Political Dialogue Forum is to be held on November 9 in Tunis, the capital of Tunisia.
“We will need to work with the 75 participants (of the Forum) on a forward-looking political roadmap with the key objectives of programming national elections,” said Williams.
The Special Representative expressed the hope that the “spirit and sense of responsibility” observed within the Joint Military Commission would be reflected in the political dialogue. “What we are asking is that the (Libyan) political class attain the level of responsibility that we have seen at present within the Joint Military Commission,” she said.
“We know there are games being played now, we see the maneuvers all around us of what we call the ‘status quo’ party. It will not work, ”she warned.
For the Special Representative, firmly setting the roadmap for national elections is the primary objective of the Tunis Forum. “This is the only way in which the Libyan people can restore their sovereignty and exercise their right to elect their representatives,” she stressed.
“Libyans can organize elections; we have seen the emergence of democracy at the municipal level and we must see it at the national level ”, she concluded.
