The U.N. special envoy for Libya said Monday he plans to intensify negotiations with the country’s feuding parties to reach “a final settlement” in the coming months on the most contentious issues blocking long postponed elections in the troubled North African nation.
Abdoulaye Bathily warned the U.N. Security Council that prolonging the current status quo “is fraught with disaster for Libya and its neighbors.” And he said it’s imperative that members increase pressure on the parties, speak with one voice, and act “to remove spoilers.”
Bathily called draft laws for presidential and parliamentary elections agreed to by a committee drawn from Libya’s two rival legislative bodies on June 6 “an important step forward, though not sufficient to resolve the most contested issues and enable successful elections.”
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Oil-rich Libya plunged into chaos after a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. In the chaos that followed, the county split with the rival administrations in the east and west backed by rogue militias and foreign governments.
“By my next briefing to the council, I intend to intensify negotiations and convene major stakeholders or their trusted representatives to reach a final settlement on the most contentious issues, make the draft laws implementable and enable successful elections with an inclusive political agreement,” the U.N. special representative said. Bathily has been briefing the council about every two months.
On the security front, Bathily said Tripoli has remained relatively calm but ongoing government operations against drug, weapons, fuel and human trafficking activities in the coastal town of Zawiya and surrounding areas “have prompted allegations of political motives” and could risk undermining the capital’s stability.
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