(United Nations) The UN envoy for Libya, Jan Kubis, on Thursday drew up a statement of “impasse” on the political, security, and budgetary plans in this country, supposed to hold general elections on December 24 and which are increasingly questioned.
“I am deeply concerned by the wide ramification of the impasse in the electoral political aspect” of the Libyan file, declared the UN official during the monthly meeting of the Security Council on this country, held at a ministerial level.
No deal on elections, mercenaries everywhere
Gathered in Switzerland from June 28 to July 2, 75 Libyan personalities of all stripes, chosen by the UN as part of a reconciliation process, failed to agree on the terms of the legislative and presidential elections announced for the 24th. December.
“The so-called 5 + 5 mixed military commission postponed the reopening of the coastal road to connect the east and west of the country to protest against the inability to make decisions that will facilitate the holding of elections in time, for protest against the deadlock on the withdrawal of mercenaries, foreign fighters, and foreign forces,” added Jan Kubis.
The UN estimates at more than 20,000 the number of mercenaries (notably Russians, Syrians, Chadians, Sudanese) and foreign troops (mainly Turkish) deployed in Libya.
The UN envoy also indicated that a unified budget could not be adopted this week for the country and that salaries for staff from the opposition had not been paid.
During the meeting, Libyan Prime Minister Abdelhamid Dbeibah said he saw “a ray of hope at the end of the tunnel” after years of war. Regarding the foreign fighters present in his country, he asked the Council, without clarification, “for help to settle this question”. “These fighters must withdraw,” he said.
“Possible solution”
Libya, where a ceasefire has been observed since October, is trying to extricate itself from a decade of violence since the overthrow and death of Muammar Gaddafi after a popular revolt in 2011, chaos marked in recent years by the existence of rival powers in the East and the West, against the backdrop of multiple foreign interferences.
Beforehand, the head of French diplomacy, Jean-Yves Le Drian, president in office in July of the Security Council, like his German counterpart Heiko Maas, had estimated that progress was “possible” in Libya.
“It is imperative that the electoral calendar be respected”, insisted the French minister. “We cannot under any circumstances compromise on the date of December 24,” he added, recalling that the UN had the tool of possible sanctions against those who oppose the peace process.
Jean-Yves Le Drian also called for establishing a “timetable” for the withdrawal of foreign forces in Libya, which could, according to him, begin with the departure of Syrian fighters.
Also for the American ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, “a political solution in Libya is possible”. “It is necessary and urgent,” she said, calling on “the parties to come together” to move forward together and affirming that the “elections should not be delayed.”
This point of view was shared by all members of the Security Council, which adopted a unanimous declaration on Thursday urging the Libyan parties to make progress in meeting the December electoral deadline, while Ahmed Aboul Gheit, secretary-general of the Arab League, warned against any halt to peace in Libya.
Russia, represented by its deputy ambassador to the UN, Dmitry Polyanskiy, also pleaded for the holding of elections on December 24, demanding a withdrawal “of all foreign forces”, in a “progressive and synchronized” manner in order to ” ensure that the balance of forces on the ground is not disturbed.”
