The United Nations envoy to Libya, Abdullah Bathily, has reiterated his call for the main Libyan parties to convene an urgent political meeting aimed at forming a unified government.
This came during his meeting on Thursday with the Canadian ambassador to Libya, Isabelle Savard, to “discuss the political process in Libya and possible ways to push it forward,” as stated by Bathily via his “X” account.
Bathily renewed his call for all Libyan leaders to rise to their responsibilities, emphasizing the need for action amid deteriorating economic and security conditions.
The UN envoy also praised “the Canadian government’s support for the work of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya,” and its “supportive efforts for his initiative to bring together the five main Libyan parties for an urgent political meeting aimed at forming a unified government to lead Libya towards elections that would restore legitimacy to the current expired institutions.”
Last November, Bathily launched an initiative to convene a summit between the five main parties in the Libyan crisis to agree on outstanding issues related to elections. However, in his briefing to the Security Council last month, he criticized the positions of some Libyan leaders who “hovered in place and did not show a clear commitment to ending the political deadlock in the country,” indicating that they “did not reject the invitation to the five-party meeting directly, but some of them set conditions for participation.”
At the end of February, members of the House of Representatives and the State Council met in Tunisia to discuss ways to address the political deadlock. However, the UN envoy said in a letter to the two councils, “Your meeting is not a substitute for broader dialogue involving more participants and a more comprehensive agenda,” speaking about “the disastrous consequences of unilateral initiatives aimed solely at establishing new institutions without the cooperation and agreement of all concerned parties.”
In his recent briefing to the UN Security Council earlier this month, Bathily spoke about the conflict between the governments of Dbeibeh and Hammad, stating that “there is no institution enjoying legitimacy in Libya,” and pointing out that “the only solution” to achieve security and prosperity for Libya is “to form a new unified government. Not a government of the West or the East, but a government for all Libyans.”
