“Libyans are able to restore stability in their country whenever they want to” (UNSMIL Chief)

Ghassen Salamé, Head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) said Friday Libyan sovereignty is threatened right now.

“Libyans are able to restore stability in their country, whenever they want to” he told reporters after his meeting the media after his meeting with Foreign Minister Khemaies Jhinaoui at the headquarters of the department.

“We are working for a unified, legitimate and internationally recognised Libyan authority that can muster all its forces so that Libya would not be a source of threat to itself and its neighbors,” he pointed out.

Referring to the threats to Libya in the absence of a “unified central authority”, the UN envoy to Libya cites inter alia “the foreign and inter-Libyan military intervention but also the transit of people and the installation of non-Libyans in the country “.

This undermines the security of Libyan borders and encourages the trafficking of persons, fuel, subsidized products and weapons, he warned.

With regard to the Libyan action plan adopted by the Security Council in September 2017, the UN envoy reported on the efforts made to implement the steps of the plan through an inter-Libyan reconciliation, the return of displaced people and reaching an agreement between the protagonists on the basis of a constitutional platform.

“It would be good to be able to help the Libyans to respect the dates they themselves set at the Paris meeting on May 29, including among other things the adoption of the electoral law next September and the organisation of elections on December 10, 2018, “he added.

Political and legal conditions need to be created to ensure that the forthcoming elections in Libya be an opportunity to move forward in this country, he said.

For its part, Khemaies Jhinaoui said he had an exchange of views with Salamé on ways to strengthen the support provided by Tunisia to the efforts of the UN envoy to implement the roadmap adopted by the UN in September 2017.

“It is in the regional and international interest to guarantee the implementation of this roadmap and a quick resolution of the crisis in Libya,” added the minister, emphasising Tunisia’s interest in monitoring developments in the situation (in this country).

On another level, Khemaies Jhinaoui said he had agreed with the UN envoy to Libya to coordinate more to lead the Libyan protagonists to prioritise the solution proposed at the last meeting in Paris and the statement issued at the end of that meeting.

It was proposed to set the constitutional basis for elections and adopt the necessary electoral laws by September 16, 2018.

Jhinaoui stressed the need to foster the proper conditions to resolve the Libyan crisis at the legal and security levels, elections being a step towards stabilisation of the situation in this country, he argued.

The foreign minister, who visited Libya on June 10-26 and met with Libyan parties, announced that he will make further visits to Libya.

These visits are part of “efforts to help all Libyan parties engage in dialogue and achieve a comprehensive and consensual political solution to the crisis in Libya”.

TunisianMonitorOnline (TAP)

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