UN Libya Envoy Points to ‘Alternatives’ If Political Bodies Duck Electoral Pact

Abdoulaye Bathily, UN Special Representative for Libya and Head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), gives a press conference in Tripoli on March 11, 2023. (AFP)
Abdoulaye Bathily, UN Special Representative for Libya and Head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), gives a press conference in Tripoli on March 11, 2023. (AFP)
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UN Libya Envoy Points to ‘Alternatives’ If Political Bodies Duck Electoral Pact

Abdoulaye Bathily, UN Special Representative for Libya and Head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), gives a press conference in Tripoli on March 11, 2023. (AFP)
Abdoulaye Bathily, UN Special Representative for Libya and Head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), gives a press conference in Tripoli on March 11, 2023. (AFP)

If Libya's legislative bodies are unable to agree on electoral laws in a timely manner "we will look at what alternative we will find", the UN Libya envoy said on Friday, indicating he would not accept moves to derail a march to elections.

Envoy Abdoulaye Bathily is seeking to break Libya's long internal stalemate with an election this year to replace transitional political bodies that have long outlived their mandates.

He announced a new initiative last month to speed up the political process, prompting the two legislative bodies, the House of Representatives (HoR) and the High State Council (HSC), to set up a committee to look at electoral laws.

"They have to deliver on this in a timely manner," he told Reuters in an interview on Friday from Tripoli.

Many Libyans remain skeptical that the two bodies are negotiating in good faith after years of endless talks and transitional arrangements that have always allowed them to retain positions of power.

A previous attempt to hold an election in December 2021 fell apart because of disputes over the rules, including the eligibility of each of the main candidates.

Bathily earlier this month said the legislative bodies' committee would have to approve clear electoral laws in June in order for a national vote to go ahead this year.

"Of course if they don't do it, they will be accountable to the Libyan people, to the international community, to the regional leaders who are supporting them in this process," he added.

When asked what alternatives he was considering if they did not follow through, Bathily said: "We will talk about that when the time comes."

Libya has had little peace since a NATO-backed uprising in 2011 and it split in 2014 between warring eastern and western factions. The last major bout of fighting ended with a ceasefire in 2020 but there has been no move to a lasting political solution.

Skepticism

Bathily acknowledged that many Libyans "have shown their skepticism about the capacity or the goodwill of the HoR and HSC to deliver on their mandate", adding "this cannot be just another twist in the musical chairs".

He pointed to the HoR having been elected in 2014 for a term of only 18 months, saying: "We cannot see an open-ended legitimacy that doesn't exist anywhere in the world, where the parliament is elected in an open-ended manner for an endless term."

The HSC itself emerged from the members of an earlier transitional parliament elected in 2012 and was created through a 2015 political agreement.

Bathily said the high-level steering panel he announced last month to enable elections would not function as "a physical kind of meeting where all the stakeholders will come together".

Instead, it will involve him shuttling between different political, security and civil society groups and representatives.

Many Libyans are also doubtful about any election in a country where most territory is controlled by armed factions that may back or oppose particular candidates even if the political bodies can agree to rules.

Bathily said there could not be "free and fair elections under the current fragmentation of the security apparatus" but said the UN Libya mission was working with armed factions and others to reach agreement on how a vote could take place.

Meetings last week in Tunis and next week in Tripoli will bring together figures from all the regions concerned, he said, in a dialogue "to be engaged in a process where elections will be secure".



Syrian Returns from Lebanon to Start under UN-backed Plan

FILE PHOTO: A Syrian refugee walks near tents, at an informal settlement, in Al-Marj, in Bekaa, Lebanon April 5, 2023. REUTERS/Emilie Madi/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A Syrian refugee walks near tents, at an informal settlement, in Al-Marj, in Bekaa, Lebanon April 5, 2023. REUTERS/Emilie Madi/File Photo
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Syrian Returns from Lebanon to Start under UN-backed Plan

FILE PHOTO: A Syrian refugee walks near tents, at an informal settlement, in Al-Marj, in Bekaa, Lebanon April 5, 2023. REUTERS/Emilie Madi/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A Syrian refugee walks near tents, at an informal settlement, in Al-Marj, in Bekaa, Lebanon April 5, 2023. REUTERS/Emilie Madi/File Photo

Thousands of Syrian refugees are set to return from Lebanon this week under the first, UN-backed plan providing financial incentives, after Syria's new rulers said all citizens were welcome home despite deep war damage and security concerns.

Returning Syrians will be provided with $100 each in Lebanon and $400 per family upon arrival in Syria, Lebanese Social Affairs Minister Haneen Sayed said. Transport is also covered and fees have been waived by border authorities, she said.

"I think it's a good and important start. We have discussed and are coordinating this with our Syrian counterparts and I think the numbers will increase in the coming weeks," Sayed told Reuters. A Syrian interior ministry spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

More than 6 million Syrians fled as refugees after conflict broke out in Syria in 2011, with most heading to Türkiye, Lebanon and Jordan. Lebanon has the highest concentration of refugees per capita in the world, hosting about 1.5 million Syrians among a population of about 4 million Lebanese.

Some 11,000 have registered to return from Lebanon in the first week, and the government targets between 200,000 and 400,000 returns this year under the plan, Sayed said.

The Lebanese government is focused on informal tented settlements in the country, where some 200,000 refugees live, she added, and may provide Syrian breadwinners who stay in Lebanon with work permits for sectors such as agriculture and construction if their families return to Syria.

UN agencies previously viewed Syria as unsafe for large-scale returns due to uncertainty over security and persecution by the government of Bashar al-Assad, who was toppled in December.

That has changed.

Since taking over, the new Syrian government has said all Syrians are welcome home. A UN survey from earlier this year showed nearly 30% of refugees living in Middle Eastern countries wanted to go back, up from 2% when Assad was in power.

"While the situation in Syria continues to rapidly evolve, (UN refugee agency) UNHCR considers the current context a positive opportunity for larger numbers of Syrian refugees to return home, or to begin considering return in a realistic and durable way," Ivo Freijsen, UNHCR Representative in Lebanon, told Reuters.

As of the end of June 2025, UNHCR estimated that over 628,000 Syrians had crossed back to Syria via neighboring countries since 8 December 2024, including 191,000 via Lebanon.