Strongly support Libyan-led and owned political process says India at UN

PTI, Feb 10, 2021, 11:30 AM IST

UN (New York): Voicing strong support for a Libyan-led and owned political process, India has called for broad-based dialogue with all stakeholders as the war-torn northern African country prepares to hold elections later this year.

India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador TS Tirumurti said in a tweet that India welcomes the Presidential Statement agreed by the UN Security Council on Tuesday “welcoming new unified interim executive authority in Libya.”

He said India “calls for broad-based dialogue with all stakeholders” as Libya prepares to hold elections on December 24.

“We strongly support Libyan-led, Libyan-owned political process,” Tirumurti tweeted.

Tirumurti is chair of the UN Security Council’s Libya Sanctions Committee, also called the 1970 Sanctions Committee, this year.

The Libya Sanctions Committee implements the sanctions regime, including a two-way arms embargo on Libya and assets freeze, a travel ban and measures on illicit export of petroleum.

In the Presidential Statement, the Security Council welcomed the agreement reached by the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum on a new unified interim executive authority charged with leading the country to elections.

The Council welcomed this “achievement as an important milestone in the Libyan political process and called on the interim executive authority to agree swiftly on the formation of a new, inclusive government, as set out in the roadmap agreed by the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum in Tunis, and to make the necessary preparations ahead of national Presidential and Parliamentary elections planned for December 24, 2021.

The Security Council further called on the interim executive authority to improve services and launch a comprehensive national reconciliation process.

Council Members called on all parties to implement the October 23, 2020 ceasefire agreement in full, urging the Member States to respect and support its implementation, including through the withdrawal of all foreign forces and mercenaries from Libya without further delay.

They also called for full compliance with the Council-imposed arms embargo by all Member States, in accordance with the relevant resolutions.

The Council further underlined the importance of a credible and effective Libyan-led Ceasefire Monitoring Mechanism under United Nations auspices and welcomed the swift deployment of an advance team to Libya while looking forward to receiving the Secretary-General’s proposals on the tasks and scale of that mechanism.

Members reaffirmed the Council’s strong commitment to the United Nations-facilitated, Libyan-led and Libyan-owned political process and to Libya’s sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and national unity.

Last week, the 74 members of the UN-led Libyan Political Dialogue Forum selected an interim prime minister and president of its new executive council, marking what the UN Special Representative called another “historic moment” on the road to unification of the war-torn country and national elections in December.

Mohammad Younes Menfi was selected President of the Presidency Council and Abdul Hamid Mohammed Dbeibah was elected prime minister.