By Zeinab Mohammed Salih.
New York, 14 September 2017:
Libya is “ripe” for mediation and an end to chaos, UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres told the Security Council before its unanimous vote to renew UNSMIL’s mandate for another year.
At a press conference after the meeting Guterres said that he believed that in the short term, progress could be made. He said that all Libyans and every country with influence in Libya should “to seize this opportunity to be able to overcome the divisions and move in the direction of a solution”.
Libya’s acting UN ambassador, chargé d’affaires Elmahdi Saleh Elmajerbi welcomed the vote saying that the political crisis had to be resolved. “This is the key which will allow us to overcome all of the other challenges facing my country”.
There needed to be a clear separation of legislative, executive and judicial powers, he said, adding “and we need a single united army which will work under the authority of a civilian power”.
The Security Council said that Libya’s crisis continued to pose a threat to regional peace and security. It backed the continuation of the arms embargo. It also pressed UNSMIL to coordinate support for the Presidency Council (PC) and its Government of National Accord (GNA), especially in giving advice and assistance for the stabilisation of post-conflict zones, including those liberated from the so-called Islamic State.
It also repeated its welcome of the House of Representatives’ (HoR) January 2016 endorsement in principle of the Libyan Political Agreement (LPA). It praised the meetings since held by members of the Libyan political dialogue which reaffirmed their commitment to the LPA .
On the tide of migrants seeking to reach Europe through Libya, Elmajerbi urged the Security Council not to disregard Libyan sovereignty and the need to work through the government of PC head Faiez Serraj.
