Libya’s Presidential Council and the U.N. Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) are planning to jointly convene “Libyan-led and UNSMIL-facilitated negotiations between Libya’s main political and institutional leaders,” U.N. Envoy Abdoulaye Bathily revealed today.
Speaking during a Security Council briefing on Libya, Bathily said that he have “broached the subject with House of Representatives Speaker Agila Saleh, the then High State Council President Khaled Mishri, Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah, and LNA Commander Khalifa Haftar.”
“Although significant resistance to holding a face-to-face meeting persists on the part of certain actors who wish to maintain the status quo, steps are being taken,” he said.
“In this regard, Presidential Council President [Mohamed] Menfi informed me three days ago of his meeting in Benghazi, with HoR Speaker Agila Saleh and LNA Commander Khalifa Haftar, to explore concrete progress on the political track,” he added.
Bathily urged “key Libyan institutional players to meet and agree on the politically contested issues pertaining to the elections.” However, he also warned that “unilateral steps must be avoided at all costs if we are to avert further violent conflicts as experience has shown over the last ten years.”
“The electoral landscape should be a level-playing field for all the candidates,” he said.