UN Special Envoy Ján Kubiš has stated that the interdependent tracks of implementing Libya’s ceasefire agreement, political progress, and economic reform are in danger of going into reverse.
Kubiš, gave the warning while briefing the Security Council on Thursday at UN headquarters in New York, said positive steps were now needed to avoid backsliding.
Kubiš, also the Head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), said to avoid a return to conflict, violence , and chaos, the country should complete its democratic transition.
He underscored the “overwhelming demand and expectations” of both Libya’s citizens and the international community for timely elections that are necessary to complete the country’s democratic transition.
Despite wide-ranging meetings resulting in commitments to hold elections on Dec, 24, the UN official said that many of his interlocutors were not ready to walk the talk.
Noting that the constitutional basis for elections “should have been clarified by now”, he said that even after extensive sessions in Geneva in June, members of the decision-making Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) remained “fragmented”.
“Because of this failure of both constitutional reform bodies and the LPDF, the situation in Libya is getting more difficult, confrontational, and tense,” the UNSMIL chief said.
“Institutional, political and individual interests stand in the way of finalizing the necessary legal framework for holding the December elections, he said, calling those obstructing progress, “spoilers”.
The UN official expressed deep concern over the wider consequences of the political and electoral stalemate.
He warned that if the impasse was not resolved quickly, it could reverse the positive momentum seen just a few months.
“The ramifications of the political impasse and the risk it poses to other key national priorities, particularly on the security and economic side are already beginning to manifest themselves,’’ Kubiš cautioned.
