French President Emmanuel Macron urged on Friday for empowering stability in Libya.
He called on the Libyan parties to work according to the roadmap presented by head of the United Nations mission to Libya Ghassan Salamed, in order to enable Libyans to secure national borders.
He made his remarks during a meeting with members of the French diplomatic corps.
Macron stressed the need to work on achieving security and stability in Libya and to avoid any unacceptable practices that may occur on Libyan terrain, saying that “the collective capacity to stabilize the Libyan state will be decisive”.
He reiterated his support for Salameh’s plan, which France contributed to modestly.
Referring to the Paris-sponsored meeting last July between Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, commander-in-chief of the Libyan National Army, and Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, head of the Libyan National Reconciliation Government, Macron said that “it is necessary that there be agreement by all parties on the roadmap”.
He said that will make it possible to ensure full stability of the Libyan state, empowering it to protect its national borders, ensure public order and put an end to all illicit practices.
"We must bring justice to the Libyan people. We thought in the past that the intervention of foreign forces to put an end to the dictator's regime was enough to settle the fate of a country ... but it did not achieve stability for the country," Macron said while addressing criticism of French and Western intervention to topple Moammar Gadhafi's regime in 2011.
"As Libyans are suffering from the decisions we made at the time, we now have the responsibility to build stability in Libya, and it alone will provide a permanent solution to the issue of migration," Macron said.
In the meantime, Haftar vowed on Saturday that army forces under his command will stand firmly in the face of those who are daring to meddle with Benghazi’s social fabric.
He stressed that any abuses or attacks on houses or private and public property will leave the perpetrators under the mercy of maximum penalties.
Haftar said that the general command of the army assigns all military, security and judicial units with relevant tasks on taking measures to ensure the return of those displaced to their homes safely.
He also added that the command calls on all those who have left Benghazi to place the city’s best interest ahead of personal ones, and cooperate with security forces on reporting on wanted terrorists.
