Morocco: Solution to Libyan Crisis Only Possible Through Int’l Support, Elections

Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita and Special Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations to Libya Abdoulaye Bathily hold a press conference in Rabat. (Moroccan Foreign Ministry)
Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita and Special Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations to Libya Abdoulaye Bathily hold a press conference in Rabat. (Moroccan Foreign Ministry)
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Morocco: Solution to Libyan Crisis Only Possible Through Int’l Support, Elections

Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita and Special Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations to Libya Abdoulaye Bathily hold a press conference in Rabat. (Moroccan Foreign Ministry)
Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita and Special Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations to Libya Abdoulaye Bathily hold a press conference in Rabat. (Moroccan Foreign Ministry)

Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita said Monday that resolving the Libyan crisis cannot be achieved without international support through the United Nations.

Bourita held talks in Rabat with Special Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations to Libya, Abdoulaye Bathily.

Following the talks, he told a press conference that holding presidential and parliamentary elections was essential to resolving the crisis in Libya, while acknowledging that obstacles are still hindering the solution.

Morocco and the UN have been in contact over the developments in Libya.

Morocco has hosted several meetings that have brought together Libyan rivals. The meetings had paved the way for reaching an agreement on the need to hold general elections.

“Morocco supports Libya's unity and sovereignty and backs a solution that guarantees them,” Bourita added

He rejected foreign meddling in Libyan affairs, stressing that there can be no military solution to the crisis.

For his part, Bathily said that Morocco has expressed the same concerns as the UN Secretary-General regarding Libya. “We must contribute to restoring security and stability in Libya,” he affirmed.

The envoy added that Libya enjoys enormous resources that allow it to prosper.

“The Libyans are working hard, at all levels, in order to reach a solution to the crisis,” he said.

Meanwhile, the UN Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Libya - chaired by Mohammad Auajjar - urged the authorities to “take decisive steps to provide justice and redress to the vast number of victims suffering from longstanding violations of human rights and international humanitarian law.”

“The families of these victims have waited far too long for justice,” said Auajjar.

“Libyan authorities owe it to them to share information about their loved ones, to meet them and give them answers. Silence is unacceptable.”

“We, too, have asked repeatedly for answers to the status of multiple investigations concerning serious human rights violations, but to date, there has been no satisfactory response,” Auajjar added.

During the January 23-26 mission to Tripoli, the FFM’s experts met with victims and victims’ representatives, who provided testimony related to extrajudicial killings, torture, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, human trafficking, internal displacement, the existence of mass graves and morgues containing corpses that families do not have access to.

The FFM comprises rights expert Chaloka Beyani who said that “arbitrary detention in Libya has become pervasive as a tool of political repression and control, which explains why thousands of persons are deprived of their liberty, often in poor conditions, without due process or access to justice.”

The UN Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Libya was established by the Human Rights Council in June 2020, to investigate alleged abuses of international human rights law and international humanitarian law committed in Libya since 2016.



Lebanese PM Slams Int’l Community’s ‘Silence over Israeli Crimes’

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati meets with US Ambassador to Lebanon Lisa Johnson in Beirut. (Government office)
Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati meets with US Ambassador to Lebanon Lisa Johnson in Beirut. (Government office)
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Lebanese PM Slams Int’l Community’s ‘Silence over Israeli Crimes’

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati meets with US Ambassador to Lebanon Lisa Johnson in Beirut. (Government office)
Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati meets with US Ambassador to Lebanon Lisa Johnson in Beirut. (Government office)

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati slammed on Monday the international community’s “silence over Israel’s crimes and destruction” in his country.

“The international community is complicit in these crimes when countries that champion humanity and human rights should be applying maximum pressure on Israel to make it stop its assault,” he added during meetings held with the ambassadors of the five permanent member states of the United Nations Security Council.

Mikati handed the ambassadors a report by the Health Ministry detailing the damage incurred by the sector from the Israeli raids.

He noted the threats to “priceless cultural heritage” in the cities of Tyre and Baalbek as a result of Israel’s attacks.

Moreover, he reiterated his government’s commitment to Security Council resolution 1701 and its determination to deploy the army in the South.

“It has welcomed every call for a ceasefire, while the Israeli enemy has turned against all proposed solutions and forged ahead in committing war crimes against Lebanon, even reaching its historic sites. These attacks are additional crimes against humanity that should be confronted and stopped,” he urged.

The PM underscored the need for pressure to end the assault to pave the way for talks over how to implement resolution 1701.

Furthermore, he said the government had approved during a recent meeting increasing the presence of army in the South and recruiting more troops. In its next meeting, the ministers will discuss the executive steps to support the recruitment of 1,500 soldiers.

Mikati met with US Ambassador to Lebanon Lisa Johnson, UK Chargé D'Affaires Victoria Dunne, Russian Ambassador to Lebanon Aleksandr Rudakov, China’s Ambassador Qian Minjian, French Ambassador Herve Magro, and Germany’s Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development Svenja Schulze.