UN Security Council endorses Libya progress

Calls for creation of truce surveillance unit of up to 60 members

The UN Security Council yesterday unanimously adopted a resolution endorsing the progress that Libya’s warring sides have made towards peace since signing a ceasefire in October, diplomats said.

The opposing sides in Libya had asked for a UN resolution documenting their progress on political and security issues once they came to the ceasefire agreement last fall.

Libya has been ravaged by bloodshed since the fall and killing of dictator Muammar Gaddafi in a Nato-backed 2011 revolt.

The resolution that was passed in New York yesterday, obtained by AFP, calls for the creation of a ceasefire surveillance unit of up to 60 members within the UN mission in Libya, called UNSMIL.

The UN unit will help the local one oversee the ceasefire. But the resolution says nothing about who will oversee the departure of the 20,000 foreign fighters and mercenaries who have joined the fray in Libya.

The resolution welcomes the October 23, 2020 ceasefire agreement” as well as the interim government “charged with leading the country up to national elections on December 24, 2021.” It calls on all Libyan parties “to ensure full implementation” of the ceasefire, and urges all member states to support its implementation.