By Libya Herald staff.
Tunis, 12 March 2016:
In fresh statement of support for the Government of National Accord (GNA), the United States, . . .[restrict]Italy and UN Special Envoy Martin Kobler have said they expect the Presidency Council to move quickly to Tripoli.
They also indicated they accepted the statement by some 100 members of the House of Representatives (HoR) as representing the majority of the HoR.
Their separate announcements are seen as adding pressure the HoR to formally approve the GNA and the Libya Political Agreement (LPA) signed in Skhirat on 17 December.
They follow the meeting of the Dialogue team in Tunis on Thursday which unanimously agreed that the LPA was “the only and legitimate framework” for ending the political crisis.
The Dialogue had also called on the Council to go to Tripoli – the call now taken up by the international community.
In an announcement yesterday, US State Department spokesperson John Kirby said that Washington expected “all Libyan public bodies to make arrangements for the immediate, orderly, and peaceful handover of power to the Presidency Council and other Government of National Accord officials”.
Welcoming the Dialogue’s statement, he said that the US strongly supported “the majority of House members” who had signed the statement approving the GNA. They had taken a “brave step forward in the face of unacceptable intimidation”.
Washington looked forward to working with members of GNA “as representatives of the sole legitimate government of Libya”, he added. It would also support the Presidency Council “as it takes the next steps to start working from the capital without delay”.
US Special Envoy to Libya Jonathan Winer meanwhile tweeted that it was “time for immediate, orderly, peaceful handover of power to GNA”.
In Rome, Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni likewise welcomed the Libya Dialogue’s Tunis Declaration of support for the GNA, indicating that his government likewise regarded the HoR members’s statement as legitimate.
“The support of a majority of over 100 members of parliament and the push to return to Tripoli as soon as possible to start on the new path towards the stabilisation and rehabilitation of the country through new institutions is very encouraging news,” he added.
“These developments could give new impulse to the House of Representatives to vote a motion of confidence in favour of the Government of National Accord, in line with the provisions laid down in the UN Security Council Resolution 2259,” he noted.
For his part, Kobler said he strongly supported the Dialogue statement.
It’s time to embark immediately on the implementation phase,” he said calling on the HoR “to uphold its responsibilities and complete the steps relating to the implementations of the Libyan Political Agreement”.
He also caled on the international community to work with the GNA “as the sole legitimate authority” and to support it in its sole and effective oversight over Libyan financial institutions. “The Libyan people are eager to have a strong government that can end the division and lead the country as one,” he stressed. [/restrict]
