UN Race to Resolve Libya Crisis, Bathily Renews Commitment to Roadmap

The UN envoy to Libya is continuing his efforts to resolve a crisis that has been lingering since the failure of elections last year.

Abdoulaye Bathily, according to Libyan sources, is trying to make any progress before the start of the new year, one year after the elections were postponed indefinitely.

After returning from Cairo where he held important meetings with Egyptian, Libyan and international officials, with the aim of resolving the Libyan crisis, Bathily continued his meetings inside Libya.

On Saturday, Bathily met with the Libyan Presidential Council to brief him on his recent meetings and talks on Libya.

He reiterated to the Libyan President his commitment to the Road Map, which emerged from the Political Dialog Forum, as a ground to move towards achieving political consensus in Libya by involving all political institutions resulting from the political agreement in the formulation of a solid constitutional foundation to move towards comprehensive and credible national elections as soon as possible to ensure stability.

The Presidential Council declared its support for the efforts of the UN envoy and the steps he is taking to complete the implementation of the provisions of the road map, in particular article 4 of it, concerning the rules governing the preparatory phase, the constitutional and legal framework for elections and sovereign posts and adherence to the specified deadlines.

Unifying the military

The UN envoy to Libya will hold several meetings in Libya and Tunisia after his meetings in Cairo with the aim of achieving progress in the important pending files.

According to Libyan sources, Bathily may attend a meeting in Al Djabal al Gharbi region in a few days with the Speaker of the Council of Representatives, Aguila Salah, and the head of the so-called Advisory Council, with the aim of reaching agreements on the disputed points in the constitutional base of the elections, and the crisis of positions of sovereignty and executive power.

According to the sources, Bathily invited envoys from the countries concerned with Libya and sponsor of the Berlin conference to attend a meeting in Tunis on Thursday, with the aim of discussing several issues, most notably the unification of the military institution, especially as it is the most advanced one.

Bathily is seeking to make progress before the Security Council’s December 16th meeting, which will include his third briefing since taking office last September.

Bathily is trying to achieve progress on any of the Libyan tracks before the beginning of next year, especially as Libyans are frustrated with the deterioration of the situation since the failure of the elections held last December 24th, and the lack of progress on this issue.

Seven months ago, Libya suffered from a severe political division after the government of Fathi Bashagha was given a vote of confidence. Meanwhile, the outgoing unity government headed by Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh refuses to hand over power, casting doubt on the procedures of the House of Representatives.

Libyans had been waiting for parliamentary and presidential elections to be held on December 24, 2021, but they were not implemented as the National Elections Commission declared a state of force majeure that prevented them for several reasons, including the militias.

The security and military file has recently witnessed noticeable improvement, driven by the efforts of the 5+5 Libyan Joint Military Commission, Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Abdul Razeq Al-Nadhouri and the Chief of Staff of the Western Region General Mohamed Al-Haddad, who announced the agreement in principle to unify the military institution and start making the necessary arrangements.