Participants of Libyan Political Dialogue Agree to Continue Talks in One Week
The participants of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum in Tunisia have agreed to resume talks in one week, in an online format, UN Acting Special Envoy and Head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) Stephanie Williams said.
"We will continue to work on this [mechanism for selection of new executive positions], we are going to discuss this in a meeting coming up next week, I expect that a decision will be made very shortly to select the selection members," Williams told reporters at a briefing, broadcast on the UNSMIL Facebook page.
She added that there is good progress in the talks and the next meeting will be held via videoconference.
"We still have a lot of work to do, the participants must soldier on and I know that they will. We have already agreed to reconvene in about one week's time in a virtual meeting. At the next meeting, they will agree upon the selection mechanism for the executive authority, and in the coming days I’ve asked them to identify volunteers to form a legal committee to address the question of the constitutional basis for the election," Williams said.
On Friday, Williams said that the participants of the forum had agreed that the date for national elections on a constitutional basis should be on December 24, 2021, 70 years after Libya's Declaration of Independence.
According to UNSMIL, Libya needs a new executive, which includes establishing a new and reformed presidency council and an effective government of national unity with a separate prime minister to reach the stage to hold elections.
The participants of the forum have been working on defining the eligibility criteria and a mechanism for the selection of these new executive positions, according to Williams.
Sources close to the talks told Sputnik that more than half of the delegates at the forum want Williams to put off the vote on new executive positions until next month.
"[Out of 75 delegates], 42 participants of the forum had asked Stephanie Williams to postpone the vote on persons applying for top positions in the state until December 15," one source said, adding that the UNSMIL head wanted to hold the vote as early as Sunday.
Another source said that the vote was put off right away because the delegates had failed to reach an agreement on the executive positions.
Libya has been divided between two opposing governments since the overthrow and assassination of the country's long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The administrations known as the Government of National Accord (GNA) and the Libyan National Army (LNA) control the country's west and east, respectively. The eastern-based House of Representatives is aligned with the LNA.
https://sputniknews.com/africa/202011161081176472-participants-of-libyan-political-dialogue-agree-to-continue-talks-in-one-week/