Libya crisis must be resolved urgently: UN envoy

The UN special envoy for Libya warned the country’s feuding political actors on Thursday that if they don’t urgently form a unified government and move toward elections the North African nation will slide into “disintegration.”

Abdoulaye Bathily told the UN Security Council there are numerous alarming signs of such a slide and urged all political leaders to put aside “their self-interests” and come together to negotiate and reach a compromise “to restore the dignity of their motherland.”

He said: “Reluctance to do so calls into question not only their commitment to the elections, but to the unity and future of their country for which they should be held accountable.”

Libya plunged into chaos after a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime dictator Muammar Qaddafi in 2011. In the chaos that followed, the country split, with rival administrations in the east and west backed by rogue militias and foreign governments.

The country’s current political crisis stems from the failure to hold elections on Dec. 24, 2021, and the refusal of Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah — who led a transitional government in the capital of Tripoli — to step down.

In response, Libya’s east-based parliament appointed a rival prime minister, Fathy Bashagha, but suspended him last May. The powerful military commander Khalifa Haftar continues to hold sway in the east.

Bathily told the council that in his latest engagements with the major players, none have moved from their initial positions and each has set preconditions for participating in negotiations to resolve outstanding contested issues that would clear a path to the long-awaited elections.

He pointed to intransigence by Dbeibah, Haftar, speaker of the eastern-based House of Representatives Agila Saleh and by Mohamed Takala, president of the High Council of State which has played a key role over the country’s election laws.

The UN envoy urged the rival players to lift bans on activities of the High National Elections Commission so local elections in 97 municipalities across the country can take place this year.

Bathily also said the Security Council and the broader international community have “a critical role to play to press the Libyan parties to engage constructively” and urged them to come up with a coordinated and unified approach to press for presidential and legislative elections.

Throughout Libya, he said, people are frustrated at the status quo and failure of the key political players to “do what is needed to set the country on the path to sustainable peace and progress.”

He also expressed increasing concern about rivalries between “security actors” seeking control of more territory in the capital, Tripoli, and about the human rights and humanitarian situation of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers.