TRIPOLI — The
UN’s
top official in conflict-scarred Libya offered Friday to mediate between
political rivals in a renewed push for long-delayed elections, warning against
"escalation" after a parallel government took office.
اضافة اعلان
Stephanie Williams's call came a day after
the country's eastern-based parliament swore in a prime minister in a challenge
to interim premier
Abdulhamid Dbeibah — a move observers fear could tip Libya
into a new schism.
Williams, UN chief Antonio Guterres's
special adviser on Libya, warned in a series of tweets that "the solution
to Libya's crisis does not lie in forming rival administrations and perennial
transitions."
She said she had asked the eastern-based
House of Representatives and the
High Council of State (HCS), an upper house
based in Tripoli, to nominate six delegates each to form a "joint
committee dedicated to developing a consensual constitutional basis".
HCS chief Khalid Al-Mishri welcomed her
offer, saying the body had already "adopted a constitutional basis last
September that could be built upon to find a national consensus".
"Yes to elections, no to
extensions," he added.
The eastern-based parliament did not issue
an immediate public response.
'Without resorting to violence'
Williams's proposal comes after presidential
and parliamentary elections, set for December 24 as part of a UN-brokered peace
process, were abandoned amid bitter disputes over their constitutional and
legal footing as well as the candidacies of several highly contested figures.
That had dashed hopes of drawing a line
under a decade of conflict since the 2011 revolt that toppled dictator
Muammar Gaddafi.
The country endured two rival governments
from 2014 to early 2021, when Dbeibah's administration was approved by key
factions following a ceasefire late the previous year.
Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and the US
voiced concern Friday at the latest developments, including "reports of
violence, threats of violence, intimidation and kidnappings".
"Any disagreement on the future of the
political process must be resolved without resorting to violence," foreign
ministers from the five countries said in a joint statement.
On Thursday, Libya found itself once again
with two prime ministers — Tripoli-based Dbeibah, who has refused to cede power
except to an elected government, and former interior minister Fathi Bashagha,
backed by the parliament hundreds of miles to the east.
'Transparently'
Reacting to the statement from Western foreign
ministers, Bashagha tweeted that his government's "mission" was to
"organize presidential and parliamentary elections transparently and
without delay".
In his inaugural speech on Thursday,
Bashagha had accused Dbeibah and his allies of shutting the country's airspace
and detaining three ministers to prevent them reaching the assembly to be sworn
in.
Libyan media outlets reported Friday that
foreign minister Hafed Gaddur and the minister for technical education Faraj
Khalil had been released.
Gaddur appeared on Libya Al-Ahrar news
channel saying: "I'm in good health and I wasn't harmed or
mistreated."
Culture minister Saleha al-Toumi's
whereabouts were still unclear.
Williams had earlier Friday urged all sides
to refrain from "acts of escalation" and pushed politicians to
"engage constructively together to move towards elections, for the sake of
the 2.8 million Libyans who registered to vote" last year.
She proposed to convene the joint committee
on March 15 and to produce a constitutional framework.
Gaddafi had scrapped
Libya's constitution
after seizing power in a 1969 coup and ruled for four decades through a mixture
of a personality cult, tribal alliances, petrodollar patronage and manipulating
the military to avoid further coup attempts.
After he was ousted and killed in the
NATO-backed uprising, Libyan politicians agreed on a "constitutional
declaration".
In 2017, a committee submitted a proposed
constitution for parliament to put to a referendum but the vote was never held.
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