EU to Discuss Developments in Libya

High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell attends a news conference during the Southern EU Countries summit at Filoxenia Conference centre in Nicosia, Cyprus January 29, 2019. REUTERS/Yiannis Kourtoglou/File Photo
High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell attends a news conference during the Southern EU Countries summit at Filoxenia Conference centre in Nicosia, Cyprus January 29, 2019. REUTERS/Yiannis Kourtoglou/File Photo
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EU to Discuss Developments in Libya

High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell attends a news conference during the Southern EU Countries summit at Filoxenia Conference centre in Nicosia, Cyprus January 29, 2019. REUTERS/Yiannis Kourtoglou/File Photo
High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell attends a news conference during the Southern EU Countries summit at Filoxenia Conference centre in Nicosia, Cyprus January 29, 2019. REUTERS/Yiannis Kourtoglou/File Photo

The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe said that foreign ministers will discuss Monday Libya developments and highlight the political solution for the crisis. The European Union (EU) will also host on the 23rd of July a meeting for high-rank officials to discuss the ceasefire in the country.

In his statement before the United Nations Security Council, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said that the EU will host in the last week of this month a meeting for the International Follow-up Committee on Libya (IFCL).

“As European Union, we believe it is high time to put an end to this military conflict. This meeting brings together all countries which have the capacity, if genuinely committed, to contribute to a political transition in Libya. We all took strong commitments in the Berlin conference in January; it is now time to translate our words into concrete actions. We need to work collectively, under a strong United Nations leadership, to implement truly the conclusions of Berlin, which everybody accepted,” he said.

“The polarization, which has turned Libya into a theater of proxy wars, needs to stop. Actions in support of one or the other Libyan party fuel the conflict, and some constitute clear provocations. We must go back to our Berlin-commitments, starting with the enforcement of the United Nations arms embargo, which unfortunately continues to be violated on all sides and every day, in all impunity,” Borrell added.

“We need a collective effort to favor the return of the Libyan parties to the negotiating table, starting with the UN-led 5+5 military talks to reach an agreement on a sustainable ceasefire.”

Moreover, European Union foreign policy spokesman Peter Stano told Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that the success of Operation Irini in implementing the UN arms’ embargo in Libya would be an opportunity to stop the fight.

Amid the ongoing escalation between both parties, the situation has worsened, he added.



Lebanon Elects Army Chief as New President

The Lebanese Parliament building a day before a session to elect the Lebanese president, in Beirut, Lebanon, 08 January 2025. (EPA)
The Lebanese Parliament building a day before a session to elect the Lebanese president, in Beirut, Lebanon, 08 January 2025. (EPA)
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Lebanon Elects Army Chief as New President

The Lebanese Parliament building a day before a session to elect the Lebanese president, in Beirut, Lebanon, 08 January 2025. (EPA)
The Lebanese Parliament building a day before a session to elect the Lebanese president, in Beirut, Lebanon, 08 January 2025. (EPA)

Lebanon's parliament elected army chief Joseph Aoun head of state on Thursday, filling the vacant presidency with a general who enjoys US approval and showing the diminished sway of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group after its devastating war with Israel.
The outcome reflected shifts in the power balance in Lebanon and the wider Middle East, with Hezbollah badly pummelled from last year's war, and its Syrian ally Bashar al-Assad toppled in December.
The presidency, reserved for a Maronite Christian in Lebanon's sectarian power-sharing system, has been vacant since Michel Aoun's term ended in October 2022, with deeply divided factions unable to agree on a candidate able to win enough votes in the 128-seat parliament.
Aoun fell short of the 86 votes needed in a first round vote, but crossed the threshold with 99 votes in a second round, according to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, after lawmakers from Hezbollah and its Shiite ally the Amal Movement backed him.
Momentum built behind Aoun on Wednesday as Hezbollah's long preferred candidate, Suleiman Franjieh, withdrew and declared support for the army commander, and as French envoy shuttled around Beirut, urging his election in meetings with politicians, three Lebanese political sources said.
Aoun's election is a first step towards reviving government institutions in a country which has had neither a head of state nor a fully empowered cabinet since Aoun left office.
Lebanon, its economy still reeling from a devastating financial collapse in 2019, is in dire need of international support to rebuild from the war, which the World Bank estimates cost the country $8.5 billion.
Lebanon's system of government requires the new president to convene consultations with lawmakers to nominate a Sunni Muslim prime minister to form a new cabinet, a process that can often be protracted as factions barter over ministerial portfolios.
Aoun has a key role in shoring up a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel which was brokered by Washington and Paris in November. The terms require the Lebanese military to deploy into south Lebanon as Israeli troops and Hezbollah withdraw forces.
Aoun, 60, has been commander of the Lebanese army since 2017.