Libya

Participants at Libya’s UN-sponsored peace talks have approved a list of candidates seeking to lead a transitional government, the United Nations said. The transitional government will oversee preparations for a national election at the end of 2021 that aims to end a decade of chaos and conflict that has left Libya split down the middle and hammered its vital oil exports on which the country’s economy depends.

The UN Security Council and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday called for thousands of foreign fighters and mercenaries to immediately leave Libya, with Guterres demanding that they “leave the Libyans alone.”

Europeans should provide stabilisation, technical, and diplomatic support to strengthen Libya’s governance and accountability mechanisms to ensure a new government can successfully hold elections in 2021

The UN chief urged the departure of all foreign fighters and mercenaries from Libya by Saturday as called for in the October 23 ceasefire agreement signed by the warring sides after years of fighting split the oil-rich North African nation in two.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced today the appointment of Ján Kubiš of Slovakia as his Special Envoy on Libya and Head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL).

The UN Secretary-General has praised the breakthrough made by a key committee of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum at the weekend, over an interim political leadership deal, ahead of nationwide elections at the end of the year.

[…] Natalina Cea was appointed Head of Mission of the EU Border Assistance Mission (EUBAM) in Libya. She will take up her duties on 1 February 2021 succeeding Vincenzo Tagliaferri, who has been Head of Mission since 1 September 2016.

Officials from Libya’s rival governments met for talks aimed at unifying the national budget, another step forward in efforts to end the years-long conflict in the oil-rich North African nation.

[…] The call came in a letter he addressed to the Member States of the Security Council in which he called for the formation of a monitoring committee comprising civilians and retired military personnel from international bodies such as the African Union, the European Union and the Arab League.