UN-backed Libyan talks failed to reach consensus on elections Middle East News

Libyan delegates have not agreed on a legal framework for presidential and parliamentary elections this year, the United Nations has said they have put in place an agreed roadmap to end the conflict there.

The Libyan Forum for Political Dialogue (LPDF), a 75-member organization from all walks of life in Libya, ended five days of talks at a hotel outside Geneva on Friday, the UN support mission said in Libya on Saturday.

Participants in UN-led talks discussed a number of proposals on the constitutional basis for the election, including those that did not match the roadmap voted for Dec. 24. Others wanted to set conditions for the election to be conducted as planned, the mission said. .

The UN mission said members of the LPDF have set up a committee responsible for bridging the gap between the proposals put before the forum. But the blockade remained the same.

“It’s unfortunate,” said mission coordinator Raisedon Zenenga. “The people of Libya will certainly feel disappointed with the intention of gaining the opportunity to exercise their democratic rights in the December 24 presidential and parliamentary elections.”

The mission asked forum members to continue with the consultations to agree on a “workable commitment that will unite them”. He warned that “proposals that make elections viable and impossible on December 24 will not be entertained.”

“This is not the result many of us expected, but the result is better given the options that were on the table,” Saudi forum member Elham wrote on Twitter. “That just delays the battle, but it doesn’t solve the problems.”

As reported by Tripoli, Al Jazeera’s Malik Train said the ongoing divisions between Libya’s major political groups are insurmountable.

“This was a created body [by the UN] to help reach consensus and reach agreement. They [the delegates] they were supposed to propose a constitutional framework for the elections to be held in December, but they are widely divided.

“Despite the appointment of a caretaker government in February, each side presented a different candidate. Libya is still divided on how to hold the December elections,” he said.

It has been criticized by the UN

More than a dozen members of the LPDF criticized the UN mission for voting to put forward proposals to keep the current government in power and hold only legislative elections.

Richard Norland, the U.S. special envoy to Libya, denounced “several members” of the forum for trying to insert seemingly “poison pills” to ensure that elections do not happen “neither by extending the constitutional process or creating new conditions to be met.”

“We hope that the 75 Libyans in the LPDF will once again dedicate 7 million Libyans across the country to have a voice in shaping Libya’s future,” he said.

Christian Buck, the director of the Middle East and North Africa, the director of the German Foreign Ministry asked members of the LPDF to adhere to the roadmap for the December elections.

“Any delay would open the door to dangerous scenarios,” he tweeted.

Difficult road

The interim government was headed by Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah named the forum was immersed in allegations of corruption earlier this year in a vote. His main mandate is to prepare the country for the December elections, with the hope of stabilizing the divided nation.

Libya has been plagued by corruption and turmoil since a NATO-backed uprising killed Muammar Gaddafi since long ago. In recent years, the country has been divided between a UN-recognized government and a division in the capital, Tripoli. the east of the country.

Each side was supported by armed groups and foreign governments. The UN calculated it at least in December 20,000 foreign fighters and mercenaries In Libya, including Turkish, Syrian, Russian, Sudanese and Chadian troops.

In April 2019, Eastern Commander Khalifa Haftar and his forces, backed by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, attacked in an attempt to take the capital Tripoli. 14 months of the Haftars campaign Turkey fell after strengthening military support from the UN-recognized government with hundreds of soldiers and thousands of Syrian mercenaries.

Last October, a ceasefire agreement an agreement was reached on the December elections and led to a transitional government that took office in February. The agreement included a request for all foreign fighters and mercenaries to leave Libya within 90 days, but that request has not yet been met.