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By Sami Zaptia.
London, 5 November 2018:
Ninety-eight members of the House of Representatives (HoR) signed a letter setting out their agenda for next week’s Palermo conference on Libya.
The leaked letter, seen by Libya Herald, is addressed to UNSMIL head Ghassan Salame and Italy’s ambassador to Libya, and has 8 main demands.
Firstly, it assures of the independence and territorial integrity of Libya.
Secondly, it called on the Palermo conference to mitigate the negative interference by foreign states in Libyan affairs and called for a unified international stance.
Thirdly, it called on the Palermo conference to recognize and support the HoR and High State Council’s (HSC) exclusive legitimate right to restructure the Presidency Council and its Government of National Accord (PC/GNA), as authorized by the 2015 Skhirat Libyan Political Agreement (LPA).
Any other attempts to form a new PC/GNA outside this framework should not be supported, the letter added.
Fourthly, the letter says that the PC restructuring process has actually started and that a new PC will be announced shortly.
This process had been agreed by more than 134 HoR members as well as the HSC.
The restructuring process will lead to the LPA becoming constitutional and lead to one unified Libyan government. This unified government will lead to unified sovereign state institutions.
It will also provide the needed conditions for holding a safe referendum on the draft permanent constitution and for holding safe presidential and parliamentary elections.
The 98 members claimed that this is the best and only path that is consistent with legitimacy and the path that should be backed by Palermo.
Fifthly, the letter urged the PC and all political and military parties to respect any agreement reached by the HoR and HSC through the LPA framework, and assured the Palermo conference that any attempts to frustrate such an agreement will not be accepted.
Sixthly, the 98 HoR members assured of their support for the Cairo Libyan army reunification talks and called for UNSMIL to lead the process.
Seventhly, the letter stated that illegal migration is an international issue and that Libya is one of the most negatively affected countries as a result. It has led to the spread of organized crime, terrorism, looting and the smuggling overseas of the country’s assets.
As a result, Libya should be supported in finding a solution to this problem.
Finally, the 98 HoR members stated that Libya’s frozen assets abroad are for the Libyan people and no one has the right to dispose of them. They called on the UN Security Council and governments of related states to uphold their legal and moral responsibility in securing these frozen assets.
The effort by the 98 comes on the back of Faiez Serraj, the head of Libya’s internationally-recognized Presidency Council and Government of National Accord (PC/GNA), revealing last Wednesday his discussion agenda for the 12-13 November conference.
It will be recalled that Serraj, through his personal spokesperson Mohamed El-Sallak, had demanded four main axis for debate at Palermo.
Firstly, the affirmation of both the presidential and parliamentary electoral process, conducted on a constitutional basis.
Secondly, the ending of the existence of parallel state institutions and the consolidation of all existing state institutions.
Thirdly, the continuation of the implementation of the (new) security arrangements, which are stipulated in the 2015 Skhirat Libyan Political Agreement (LPA).
Finally, Serraj insists on the continuation of the newly implemented economic reforms.
