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UN Libya Forum Starts Voting for Country's Interim Presidency Council

This handout picture shows delegates standing during the national anthem at the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum on February 1, 2021 at an undisclosed location near Geneva. (UN via AFP)
This handout picture shows delegates standing during the national anthem at the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum on February 1, 2021 at an undisclosed location near Geneva. (UN via AFP)
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UN Libya Forum Starts Voting for Country's Interim Presidency Council

This handout picture shows delegates standing during the national anthem at the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum on February 1, 2021 at an undisclosed location near Geneva. (UN via AFP)
This handout picture shows delegates standing during the national anthem at the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum on February 1, 2021 at an undisclosed location near Geneva. (UN via AFP)

Participants in UN Libya talks in Switzerland cast votes on Tuesday for a new national presidency council to create a transitional government to oversee national elections in December, although no immediate winners emerged.

Candidates included the head of Libya’s eastern-based House of Representatives, Aguila Saleh, and Osama Juwaili, a Government of National Accord (GNA) military commander in the west.

The candidates for the three-person council must now consult with others to form regional lists which include nominees for prime minister before voting can resume.

Attempts to form a temporary government by the talks’ 75 participants, chosen by the UN last year to represent different strands of Libyan politics, is part of Libya’s biggest peacemaking effort in years.

But while the UN has hailed the progress as “positive”, praising the list of candidates as long and diverse, many Libyans remain skeptical after previous diplomatic efforts collapsed, and as key ceasefire terms remain unmet.

Some fear that losers in the process will violently reject it, that the transitional leaders will refuse to cede control once installed or that foreign powers will sabotage the process to defend their own interests.

The latest round of diplomacy accelerated after Khalifa Haftar’s eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) was beaten back from its 14-month assault on Tripoli, seat of the GNA, which is backed by Turkey.

Candidates for both the presidency council and the prime minister submitted to live, televised questioning before the votes and pledged not to stand in the December elections if selected.

The presidency council will act as a temporary head of state with the power to oversee the army, declare states of emergency and take decisions on war and peace in consultation with the parliament. It will also run a national reconciliation process.

The prime minister will form a new government for approval by the parliament, prepare a unified budget, oversee a roadmap to elections and decide on the structure and management of state bodies and institutions.

Candidates for that job include the GNA’s Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha and Defense Minister Salah al-Namroush.

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Arab World

Rescue Teams Search for Survivors in Building Collapse that Killed at Least 2 in Northern Lebanon

A Lebanese flag is pictured, in the aftermath of a massive explosion, in Beirut's damaged port area, Lebanon August 17, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
A Lebanese flag is pictured, in the aftermath of a massive explosion, in Beirut's damaged port area, Lebanon August 17, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
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Rescue Teams Search for Survivors in Building Collapse that Killed at Least 2 in Northern Lebanon

A Lebanese flag is pictured, in the aftermath of a massive explosion, in Beirut's damaged port area, Lebanon August 17, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
A Lebanese flag is pictured, in the aftermath of a massive explosion, in Beirut's damaged port area, Lebanon August 17, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

At least two people were killed and four rescued from the rubble of a multistory apartment building that collapsed Sunday in the city of Tripoli in northern Lebanon, state media reported.

Rescue teams were continuing to dig through the rubble. It was not immediately clear how many people were in the building when it fell.

The bodies pulled out were of a child and a woman, the state-run National News Agency reported.

Dozens of people crowded around the site of the crater left by the collapsed building, with some shooting in the air.

The building was in the neighborhood of Bab Tabbaneh, one of the poorest areas in Lebanon’s second largest city, where residents have long complained of government neglect and shoddy infrastructure. Building collapses are not uncommon in Tripoli due to poor building standards, according to The AP news.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry announced that those injured in the collapse would receive treatment at the state’s expense.

The national syndicate for property owners in a statement called the collapse the result of “blatant negligence and shortcomings of the Lebanese state toward the safety of citizens and their housing security,” and said it is “not an isolated incident.”

The syndicate called for the government to launch a comprehensive national survey of buildings at risk of collapse.

Arab World

Israel to Take More West Bank Powers and Relax Settler Land Buys

A view of Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in the West Bank, Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP)
A view of Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in the West Bank, Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP)
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Israel to Take More West Bank Powers and Relax Settler Land Buys

A view of Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in the West Bank, Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP)
A view of Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in the West Bank, Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP)

Israel's security cabinet approved a series of steps on Sunday that would make it easier for settlers in the occupied West Bank to buy land while granting Israeli authorities more enforcement powers over Palestinians, Israeli media reported.

The West Bank is among the territories that the Palestinians seek for a future independent state. Much of it is under Israeli military control, with limited Palestinian self-rule in some areas run by the Western-backed Palestinian Authority (PA).

Citing statements by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Defense Minister Israel Katz, Israeli news sites Ynet and Haaretz said the measures included scrapping decades-old regulations that prevent Jewish private citizens buying land in the West Bank, The AP news reported.

They were also reported to include allowing Israeli authorities to administer some religious sites, and expand supervision and enforcement in areas under PA administration in matters of environmental hazards, water offences and damage to archaeological sites.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the new measures were dangerous, illegal and tantamount to de-facto annexation.

The Israeli ministers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The new measures come three days before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to meet in Washington with US President Donald Trump.

Trump has ruled out Israeli annexation of the West Bank but his administration has not sought to curb Israel's accelerated settlement building, which the Palestinians say denies them a potential state by eating away at its territory.

Netanyahu, who is facing an election later this year, deems the establishment of any Palestinian state a security threat.

His ruling coalition includes many pro-settler members who want Israel to annex the West Bank, land captured in the 1967 Middle East war to which Israel cites biblical and historical ties.

The United Nations' highest court said in a non-binding advisory opinion in 2024 that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories and settlements there is illegal and should be ended as soon as possible. Israel disputes this view.

Arab World

Arab League Condemns Attack on Aid Convoys in Sudan

A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)
A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)
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Arab League Condemns Attack on Aid Convoys in Sudan

A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)
A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)

Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit strongly condemned the attack by the Rapid Support Forces on humanitarian aid convoys and relief workers in North Kordofan State, Sudan.

In a statement reported by SPA, secretary-general's spokesperson Jamal Rushdi quoted Aboul Gheit as saying the attack constitutes a war crime under international humanitarian law, which prohibits the deliberate targeting of civilians and depriving them of their means of survival.

Aboul Gheit stressed the need to hold those responsible accountable, end impunity, and ensure the full protection of civilians, humanitarian workers, and relief facilities in Sudan.