The UN
envoy for Libya said the country has lurched from one emergency to another in
recent weeks and warned that the Islamic State extremist group is expanding its
operations and Libya could become a refuge for terrorist groups of all
persuasions.
Ghassan Salame told the Security
Council on Wednesday that "the status quo in Libya is untenable."
He urged council members to help
address the "looming threat" from the spread of extremist groups, and
support economic reforms and efforts to advance the political process and move
toward national elections.
Libya slid into chaos after the
2011 uprising that overthrew long-ruling dictator Muammar Gaddafi and led to
his death. The country is currently governed by rival authorities in the capital
Tripoli and the country's east, each of which are backed by an array of
militias. Other armed groups have carved out fiefdoms across the country, with
many profiting from smuggling and extortion.
Salame said
violence that consumed the capital starting Augustus 26 "shattered the
facade of calm that had prevailed in Tripoli since May 2017." Tanks and
heavy artillery were deployed in residential neighbourhoods leaving 61 Libyans
dead and nearly 160 injured, many of them civilians including children, he
said.
Tripoli was "on the brink of
all-out war" until the UN brokered a fragile cease-fire between the major
parties on September 4 which it is now trying to help take root as a first step
toward peace, he said.
"This crisis is but the latest
in a series of crises that have engulfed Libya," Salame stressed.
He pointed to events in Libya's
oil-rich crescent in June and July that "effectively threatened to split
the country," the Islamic State's expanding presence and operations, and
over 1 000 Chadian government and opposition forces fighting in recent weeks
from bases in southern Libya.
This risks "the south becoming
a regional battleground and safe haven for foreign armed groups," he said.
Salame also pointed to hunger
strikes in eastern and western Libya by refugees and asylum seekers in
detention centres protesting their bleak living conditions.
On an upbeat note, he said,
"In crisis lies the opportunity to tackle the underlying causes."
"To restore stability to Libya
there is a strong and urgent need to establish strong and unified civilian and
military institutions which work for the benefit of all citizens," Salame
said.
In May, Fayez Serraj, prime
minister of the UN-backed government in Tripoli, and Field Marshal Khalifa
Haftar, commander of the self-styled Libyan National Army in the east, agreed
on a roadmap aimed at restoring order in the country. It calls for parliamentary
and presidential elections, scheduled for December 10.
But UN experts said in a report
last month that "predatory behaviour" by armed groups in Libya posed
a direct threat to forming a national government and ending lawlessness that
has fuelled Islamic militancy, human trafficking and instability in the wider
region.
Salame told the Security Council
that "for national elections to take place a number of conditions must be
met" which "will require great efforts to achieve - but they are
achievable."
He was highly critical of the House
of Representatives which has failed to deliver on promised legislation for a
referendum and elections.
"They simply have no intention
of relinquishing their positions," Salame said. "They have put in
place legal provisions to maintain their authority in perpetuity. ... And for
the personal ambitions of a few, all Libyan citizens have paid a steep
price."
He said any rapprochement between
the two legislative houses must be directed toward advancing the political
process, "not to ensure their own longevity."
"If legislation is not
produced soon, we will close the chapter on this approach," Salame warned.
"There are other ways to
achieve peaceful political change, and we will embrace them with no hesitation,
indeed with enthusiasm," he said, without elaborating.
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