They come and go, one after another. The empty loops drawn by their steps are the only trace they leave behind. Some two out of ten envoys have tried and failed, the Lebanese Ghassan Salameh and the American Stephanie Williams.
All of them were tasked with leading the UN mission in Libya by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in the hope that they would crack the wall and achieve a breakthrough that would help the people of this politically, militarily, and socially fragmented country that has been plundered from within and without. Indeed, Libya has become a textbook case; it should be used, at both universities and political institutes, to illustrate how corrupt political financing can wreck societies, and how foreign interventions - with their rivalries and clashes - can shatter a nation that awakens and sleeps over a wealth of oil.
One unique obstacle faced by the UN envoys to Libya is that they have all been forced to start from square one. The moment an envoy’s term ends, their name fades into oblivion. The successor steps in only to inevitably be trapped inside the same vicious circle, and then they run in dizzying circles until the recall message arrives.
The current envoy, Hanna Tetteh, is circling this same closed loop, though she doesn’t seem to have been exhausted or discouraged yet. Last Thursday, in New York, she briefed members of the UN Security Council on a new roadmap. She claimed her plan would allow for the formation of a new government and amendments to the electoral law, paving the way for elections. The proposed government’s sole mission: to unify state institutions and restructure the High National Elections Commission so that a vote can be held.
However, we have heard this record before. She has not presented anything novel. Everyone, both inside Libya and abroad, has heard these promises already. The current government in Tripoli led by Abdul Hamid al-Dbeibah, which was appointed in Geneva four or five years ago, under the auspices of UN envoy Stephanie Williams, was, after all, tasked with doing exactly that.
Williams had stipulated that the government should not remain in place for over a year. It had a single mission to achieve in this time: organize parliamentary and presidential elections. Nearly five years later, that government has yet to step aside, elections have yet to be held, and instead of one government, Libya now has two.
The day after Tetteh’s Security Council briefing, Libyan news sites reported that RPGs had been used to attack the UN mission’s headquarters in the Janzour suburb, around 15 kilometers west of Tripoli. The rocket missed the compound, landing in a Libyan family’s house nearby. Later, the Interior Ministry issued a statement claiming that the car used in the attack had been found, with only two more rockets and the launcher inside, and that it was tracking down the perpetrator.
That attack was a threat that the armed groups sent Ms. Tetteh. It is also a grim reminder of the fate that the UN mission and its staff could meet if they insist on pressing forward with their plan.
Curiously, Tripoli’s government, the Presidential Council, the House of Representatives, the High Council of State, and the Benghazi-based government all welcomed Tetteh’s roadmap. The question, though, remains: who will implement it if the UN mission has neither teeth nor claws to do so?
Last week, the Libyan High National Election Commission organized municipal council elections. The climate was mixed: elections were successfully held in some municipalities but banned in others. One polling station was attacked by armed men who seized ballot papers.
The encouraging news is that, in the municipalities where elections did take place, the Islamist groups were disappointed by the results. Thus, for the third time since February 2011, Libyan citizens used their chance to vote to reject Islamist candidates. In a statement, the UN envoy remarked that the successful municipal elections left no room for doubt about the Libyan people’s desire to hold national elections.
She is absolutely right. The problem, however, is that those with power, wealth, and weapons across Libya refuse to allow elections to proceed. There is nothing they are not willing to do to safeguard their privileges. The UN envoy cannot persuade them to stop sending militants to attack the UN compound with RPGs, nor can she convince them to negotiate among themselves, disarm, and finally save this country from the limbo it has been in for far too long.
