UN Special Envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame has briefed Tunisia's Foreign Minister Khemaies Jhinaoui on updates and outcomes of the marathon talks held recently by Libyan officials in Tunisia and Libya as a support to the UN and neighboring countries’ efforts to hold the inter-Libyan national conference the soonest.
Salame, however, refused to reveal the date of the conference but asserted there is great progress in setting the stage for it.
He revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that some political forces and parties are awaiting a lapse or the announcement of a date that isn’t final yet.
Progress is achieved in cooperation with the Government of National Accord (GNA) and all Libyan parties, he added, affirming that the majority will back efforts in the economic, political and security fields.
Despite secrecy over the conference date, Salame expected the conference to be held at the beginning of 2019 and to be attended by various Libyan parties. The conference would pave the way to hold presidential and legislative elections.
As for activating the political road-map agreed on, following Palermo conference on Libya, he said that the UN delegation along with the Libyan parties and neighboring states are to join efforts to activate previous political agreements.
In this context, he stressed the political and security coordination between the UN mission and the GNA for the sake of activating the decision to penalize some leaders of the armed militias convicted by UN and international institutions.
Jhinaoui lauded the positive outcomes on the political, security, social and economic levels in Libya. He announced that Tunisia supports continuous endeavors to reach a comprehensive political agreement according to the UN road-map.
He pinned hopes on the Libyan conference pushing Libyans to overcome their disputes and embrace a peaceful solution that puts an end to the crisis in the country.
