The Head of the High Council of State, Mohamed Takala, and the Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah announced their acceptance of the invitation of the Head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), Abdoulaye Bathily, to hold a national dialogue among the Libyan parties. The announcement came after Dbeibah’s meeting with Takala on Thursday.
Dbeibah’s government media platform Hakomitna said on Facebook that the meeting was devoted to discussing the efforts of the UNSMIL to hold a meeting with the Libyan parties to support the holding of elections. It added that the two sides stressed the need to support the efforts of the Bathily in order to reach elections in accordance with fair and impartial laws, and to accept his call to hold a national dialogue for the Libyan parties in accordance with clear national constants.
In late November 2023, Bathily called on the leaders of the five main institutions in Libya to hold a meeting in order to discuss the next steps of the electoral process, after the House of Representatives issued the law to elect the head of state and the law to elect the National Assembly in October.
Dabaiba and Takala’s announcement of accepting Bathily’s invitation to dialogue comes after their meeting with an American delegation headed by the United States Special Envoy to Libya, Richard Norland, who visited Benghazi and Tripoli in order to mobilize support for the political process facilitated by the United Nations.
Before Dabaiba and Takala announced their acceptance, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aqila Saleh, announced his rejection of that invitation to the US special envoy to Libya Norland during their meeting in the city of Benghazi last Tuesday, stressing his commitment to forming a new government.