Libya

Lawmakers in the war-torn country have voted in favor of the interim government to lead Libya through long-delayed elections, scheduled for December 24.

Libya's prime minister-designate demanded the departure Tuesday of an estimated 20,000 foreign fighters as he sought support from lawmakers to help end a grinding civil war in the North African nation.

The United Nations has confirmed the deployment a small advance team to Libya in accordance with the Secretary General’s recommendation in his report of 29 December 2020 and subsequent to the Security Council’s request of 4 February, the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) reported Thursday.

UN panel of experts report said at least three participants at peace talks were bribed to vote for PM Dbeibah.

The United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix said Tuesday that the office of military affairs and police of the UN have expressed readiness to monitor the Libyan ceasefire implementation on the ground. … He added that there was still a lot of work to be done in order to clarify what the role of the UN in Libya would be.

[…] The remarks came in a meeting between Al-Sarraj and the UN envoy, Jan Kubis, in Tripoli, as Kubis congratulated Al-Sarraj on the progress made so far in the three-track Libyan-led/owned dialogue, including the ceasefire agreement and the successful outcome of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum.

The UN Security Council on Tuesday called on the new interim leadership of Libya to swiftly form an inclusive Government and make necessary preparations for December’s presidential and parliamentary elections. Last week, the 74-members of the UN-led Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) chose an interim Prime Minister and President of its new executive council, charged with leading the country to elections, planned for 24 December this year. 

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