The UN announced on Monday that the interlibyan political dialogue, planned in Tunisia in early November to try to get Libya out of chaos, would be open to leaders not aiming for government posts but thinking first of “their country”.
“We want to see people who are not there for their own political career but for their country,” said Stephanie Williams, acting United Nations envoy to Libya, after a meeting with Tunisian President Kais Saied.
Libya is currently torn between two rival authorities: the Government of National Unity (GNA) in the West, based in Tripoli and recognized by the UN, and a power embodied by Khalifa Haftar, a strongman from the East.
The Tunis dialogue, which will begin on October 26 by videoconference before continuing in early November face to face, will bring together many members of the Parliament of Tobruk (east) and the High Council of State (west), as well as selected participants by the UN, Williams said.
Asked about the presence of Marshal Haftar or the Prime Minister of the GNA, Fayez al-Sarraj, the emissary stressed that “the condition for participating in this dialogue is to give up being considered to occupy senior government positions”. “This includes the presidential council, the Prime Minister, the ministries and various positions of sovereignty,” she told AFP at a press conference. “The objective of this meeting is to arrive at national elections”, she added.
Tunisian Foreign Minister Othman Jarandi for his part called for “a direct dialogue between the Libyans, without interference”.
Interrupted many times since the Skhirat agreements (Morocco) in December 2015, the Libyan political process was undermined by the military offensive of Marshal Haftar who tried, unsuccessfully from April 2019 to June 2020, to take the lead. control of Tripoli.
The two rival camps, encouraged by the UN, returned in September to the negotiating table with thematic meetings: institutional in Morocco, military in Egypt and political in Switzerland.
