By Libya Herald staff.
Tripoli, 16 December 2014:
Any party involved in military activities in Libya is in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 2174 . . .[restrict]and must cease such operations immediately, UNSMIL has declared. Failure to do so will result in targeted sanctions it has said.
UNSMIL confirmed in a statement yesterday that it is still working out the details for the next dialogue meetings. The last meeting, scheduled for 9 December, has now been postponed twice. However, colleagues describe Leon as still be “upbeat” about a meeting, even though many Libya observers are now convinced that the process is dead in the water for the immediate future.
In its statement, UNSMIL said that the upcoming meeting “will provide a forum for the country’s political parties and tribal forces, as well as leaders of the armed groups, to be active partners in the search for an agreement”. The goals of the dialogue are an end to armed conflicts across the country, find long-term solutions to the ongoing crisis and agree upon “the management of the remainder of the transitional period.”
UNSMIL warned that it considered continued military operations to be a direct attempt to undermine the dialogue process.
“Dialogue is a demand of the vast majority of Libyans and there is no other alternative,” it said. “There can be no winner in the current military conflict and the use of violence and the force of arms will not succeed in achieving political objectives.”
UNSMIL condemned current fighting over Libya’s oilfields, saying that Libya’s oil belongs to the Libyan people. Furthermore, it called on all sides to put their country’s interest first and work to see the “vicious cycle of violence” broken. [/restrict]
