UN Special Adviser on Libya, Stephanie Williams, said the initiative that she launched aims to activate and consolidate the consensus that occurred between the House of Representatives (HoR) and the High Council of State (HCS) through the two road map committees.
The United Nations’ official offered Friday to mediate between political rivals in a renewed push for long-delayed elections, warning against “escalation” after a new government took office.
Stephanie Williams’s call came a day after the country’s parliament swore in a new prime minister, Fathi Bashagha in a challenge to interim premier Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh.
Williams warned in a series of tweets that “the solution to Libya’s crisis does not lie in forming rival administrations and perennial transitions.”
She said she had asked HoR and HCS to nominate six delegates each to form a “joint committee dedicated to developing a consensual constitutional basis”.
“The joint committee should convene on 15 March 2022 — under the auspices of the UN and with my good offices as the Special Adviser to the Secretary General — to work for a two-week period to achieve this goal,” she added.
“I await the chambers’ speedy responses to this invitation and reiterate the responsibility of the Libyan institutions to act in good faith & engage constructively together to move towards elections, for the sake of the 2.8 million Libyans who registered to vote for presidential and parliamentary elections.”
It stems from my keenness to support the Libyans in their quest to end the specter of division and build a real and solid consensus in order to prepare a constitutional basis that enables elections to be held as soon as possible, she said.
I regretfully follow up on the media campaigns targeting efforts to end the state of fragmentation and divide in Libya, and here I want to emphasize that I stand with the millions of Libyans who want to change this unacceptable reality and renew the legitimacy of institutions through the ballot boxes, Williams added.