UN Special Representative of the Secretary General for Libya, Hannah Tetteh, warned on Tuesday of the growing “substantial divisions” in the North African country, saying all institutions have outlived their legitimate mandates.
In an interview with UN News, Tetteh stressed the need to hold general elections in Libya and to form a government that has the strong support of the Libyan people which is necessary to address some of the challenges they face at the moment, mainly the de facto fracturing between the East and the West and the continuing fracturing of national institutions.
The UN envoy said that after engaging with key political figures, she heard different views and different perspectives. “All of them agreed on the need for elections but the variations were how to get there,” she said.
On the western side, Tetteh said: “It is not just about establishing a government that would move the country towards elections but addressing particular issues, such as drafting an agreed constitution before elections could be held.”
Also, some figures in the West of Libya spoke about unifying institutions and specially creating operation readiness in institutions that would be responsible for managing elections, she said.
On the eastern side, Tetteh said most of the feedbacks were towards establishing a new government that would prepare the country for elections.
“Of course, these are completely divergent views except for the fact that they all agreed that the end goal should be elections,” she noted.
From Tetteh’s perspective, it is important to know that all of Libya’s institutions have outlived their original mandate regarding legitimacy, without exception. She said it is important for officials to allow for the election process to take place.
The UN has formed a new committee of advisors to review the challenges surrounding the electoral process and to make recommendations on how those issued could be addressed as part of how to establish a new roadmap towards getting the country out of this transition phase towards elections and to a government that has the strong support of the Libyan people.
“We established the committee of advisors to give us proposals towards being able to organize elections. But elections take a number of elements in order to ensure that they are successful,” she said.
Asked whether the UN has received a commitment from Libyan parties that they will agree on the proposals regarding elections, Tetteh said the issue is in the hands of key political actors who are responsible and at the helm of leadership of the government institutions, like the House of Representatives.
She spoke about the dispute at the High State Council, saying the organization itself has issues regarding its effectiveness.
Tetteh also said there is the issue of engaging with the LNA, engaging with the Government of National Unity, recognizing that there are other armed groups that also hold considerable sway.
“Some of these actors may not necessarily think that having an election has benefits for them. So, you have to look at what the main concerns are and in preparing this roadmap find a way in addressing those concerns so that they can come onboard for elections to take place,” she said.
Concerning the UN engagement with the joint military commission, known as the 5+5, to ensure that the ceasefire will hold, Tetteh said: “As you know, we have colleagues in UNSMIL, the security institution service, that work very closely with the 5+5 Joint Military Commission (JMC). They continue to engage them and as a result of their efforts they have been able to build some areas of consensus. But I will be the first to concede that much more work needs to be done in order to be able to have those joint security institutions.”
Also, Tetteh affirmed that “the political will is necessary to move away from having a government in the west and then having de facto authorities in the east.”
She said that not being able to check the fracturing of institutions would lead to more substantial divisions in the country.
“That is why we emphasize that political agreement is necessary in order to be able to move forward, get a government with a mandate, a mandate of the Libyan people so that it has their support to be able to take the key decisions that are necessary to restructure the security services, strengthen the public financial management and have a better oversight of the economy and to deliver the aspirations of the Libyan people,” she said.
Tetteh also said it is always important to have the support of the UN Security Council, which has a stronger act with one voice.
“And when actors, both national and international, who have influence on what happens in Libya, know that there is a united Council, they know that there is little room for maneuver and that the UN has the support of Council members and other member states to be able to progress its initiatives,” she added.
