During two meetings held by the President of the Presidential Council, Mohamed al-Menfi, with Paul Soler, special envoy of the French President in Libya, and Sergei Vershinin, Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs
The President of the Libyan Presidential Council, Mohammad al-Menfi, spoke on Wednesday with French and Russian officials about the support needed for the holding of Libyan elections in the year 2023.
A statement from the Presidential Council indicates that Al-Menfi “received today (Wednesday, in the Libyan capital, Tripoli), Paul Soler, the French President’s special envoy to Libya, in the presence of the Ambassador of the Republic French in Libya, Mustapha Mihraj”.
The meeting focused, according to the statement, “on the political situation in Libya following the latest briefing by the UN envoy to the United Nations Security Council”.
The statement said Al-Menfi praised “the relations between the two countries and France’s efforts to support the Presidential Council to achieve stability and establish a ceasefire in Libya, as well as its hosting meetings of the 5+5 Joint Military Committee.
“The Council will continue its role in the search for a consensus centered on inclusive participation and national belonging”, he underlined.
The Joint Military Committee includes 5 members of the military institution affiliated with the Tripoli-based national unity government and 5 members of Khalifa Haftar’s eastern-based forces, which have been engaged in a two-year dialogue aimed at unifying the military institution under the auspices of the UN mission.
In a separate statement, the council said Al-Menfi “met with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin in the presence of Russian Ambassador to Qatar Dmitry Dugadkin”.
The statement explains that the meeting took place on the sidelines of the fifth United Nations conference on the least developed countries, which was held in Doha on March 5 and will continue until Thursday.
And to add that the meeting “focused on the latest developments in the political situation in Libya, on the advancement of the political process and on the support for the holding of legislative and presidential elections in 2023”.
With the support of the international community, the Libyans are trying to organize elections to resolve the political crisis between the government appointed by the House of Representatives and led by Fathi Bashagha, and the national unity government of Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, which refuses to cede power except to a government from a newly elected parliament.
After the failure of a previous initiative to resolve the crisis, the UN special envoy to Libya, Abdoulaye Bathily, on February 27 launched a new initiative by the international organization aimed at organizing elections in 2023. The initiative thus includes “the establishment of a high steering committee, as well as the adoption of a legal framework and a binding timetable for their holding.”
