Libya’s PM urges foreign powers to support transition
Libya’s fragile unity government hosted senior foreign officials on Thursday to drum up support on serious transitional issues as the country gets ready for an election in December.
Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, head of the interim government, promised that the vote would be held on time and urged “respect for the results”.
“Your presence is proof that we are on the road to peace,” he told the Libya Stabilisation Conference.
The gathering comes two months before a planned presidential poll under a UN-led peace process that seeks to end a decade of conflict and chaos.
Libya and the UN have been striving to break the cycle of violence that has plagued the country since the 2011 uprising that drew Nato intervention and toppled dictator Muammar Qaddafi.
“Tripoli has recovered. It is the capital of all Libyans,” Mr Dbeibah said in his opening speech at the conference.
A ceasefire between eastern and western factions last year led to a unity government taking office in March with a mandate to steer the country towards elections.
The presidential vote is set to take place on December 24 but legislative polls have been delayed, with a date to be set in the new year, amid wrangling.
Thursday’s conference was aimed at gathering “the necessary support, in a transparent way” for the presidential election, said Foreign Minister Najla Mangoush in a video broadcast by her ministry on Sunday.
Foreign powers have been pushing hard for the election to be held as scheduled after the date was agreed at UN-led talks last year. But the process has been beset by sharp disagreements over the legal basis for holding the election.
“There is no stability without full national sovereignty,” Ms Mangoush said.
The UN undersecretary general for political affairs, Rosemary DiCarlo, emphasised the importance of the December election to “complete the transitional phase”.
She called on international organisations to send “special envoys to observe this operation” and to guarantee its transparency.
As Libya faces several accusations of mistreatment of irregular migrants, Ms DiCarlo urged the authorities to speed up the repatriation of stranded refugees and to release migrants in detention.
Foreign powers have backed various sides in Libya’s complex war and the presence of mercenaries and foreign troops is one of the toughest obstacles to lasting peace.
Last December, the UN estimated that 20,000 foreign fighters were present in Libya.
They include Russians sent by the Kremlin-linked Wagner group, African and Syrian mercenaries, and Turkish soldiers stationed under a deal with a previous unity government at the height of the last round of east-west fighting.
Ms Mangoush said the fate of these fighters would feature high on the agenda at Thursday’s conference and that the foreign armed presence “represents a threat not just to Libya but to the entire region”.
The minimal progress since a January deadline for their full departure under a ceasefire deal reflects the complexity of the issue.
Tripoli has said a “very modest” number of fighters have left.
This month, a joint commission of eastern and western military commanders agreed on a road map for their departure, but it lacked a timetable.