The conduct of free, fair and credible national elections in Libya requires a favorable political and security environment in which all stakeholders commit themselves in advance to respect and follow the results and voters are allowed to exercise their democratic rights in a safe manner without threat or interference. The International Monitoring Committee on Libya stated on Thursday.
The group, co-chair of Algeria, Germany, the Arab League and the UN mission in Libya, held a meeting on Thursday to review the progress made so far in promoting a comprehensive political solution to the situation in Libya.
The Co-Presidents welcomed the vote by the House of Representatives to give confidence in the newly elected Government of National Unity (GNU) and the swearing-in of GNU before the House of East Tobruk and before the Presidency’s Council before the Constitutional Court in the capital Tripoli.
The group further welcomed the peaceful transfer of authority from the outgoing government to the new executive led by President Mohammed Menfi and Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah.
Last week, the Libyan parliament gave Dbeibah’s government confidence with 132 votes out of the 133 lawmakers who attended the session.
On February 5, Libya’s rival political groups in UN-mediated talks agreed to form a temporary unity government to lead the country to elections in December, where Dbeibah was appointed prime minister and to form a new government.
Libyans hope that the election of a new transitional government to lead the country to elections in December will end years of civil war that have engulfed the country since the ouster of the dead dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.
The chair of the working group also praised the explicit commitment and determination of Libya’s new leadership and institutions to restore Libya’s sovereignty and preserve its independence and territorial integrity.
They reiterated the need for the “complete, immediate and unconditional withdrawal” of all foreign forces and the removal of all foreign mercenaries from the North African country and the acceleration of efforts aimed at fully addressing the threat posed by armed groups and militias. “To protect the integrity of the electoral process.”
Foreign mercenaries and weapons have flowed into the country since Putschist General Khalifa Haftar launched his offensive, with Russia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) acting as the Putschis General’s best suppliers. According to the UN, there are currently 20,000 foreign forces and / or mercenaries in Libya.
The Russian Wagner group, owned by businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, a figure close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, is known as one of the main groups that sent mercenaries to fight in Libya.
Meanwhile, the bodies of 11 people who were shot on Thursday were discovered in eastern Libya’s Benghazi, a security source said, suggesting they had been “executed”.
“On Thursday, security forces were notified of the presence of eleven unidentified bodies at the southern entrance to Benghazi in the Haouari area, near a cement factory,” a security source told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on condition of anonymity.
Investigations revealed “bullet holes” in the bodies and supported the theory that they were “executed”, the source added.
The eastern part of the North African country remains controlled by forces loyal to Haftar and the situation remains uncertain, with frequent violence and executions.
A year earlier, the bodies of 10 young Libyans were found in a dump in Benghazi.
Some of the tribes that support Haftar and live in Benghazi have recently raised their voices about the security breaches that the militias carry out in several media reports. The tribes in Benghazi’s Berka region, who see Haftar’s militia as the main reason for the province’s deteriorating security, want the militia to withdraw and announce the fate of the abductees.
On the other hand, a child was killed by a military ammunition explosion in Tripoli, a medical official told the Anadolu Agency (AA) on Thursday. Three others were injured in the blast in the Ain Zara region of southern Tripoli, according to Osama Ali, a spokesman for the Libyan Ministry of Health’s first aid and rescue service.
The army said in a statement on May 22 that the Haftar militia was planting mines in residential areas of the Salahaddin, al-Mashru and Ain Zara regions as they withdrew from southern Tripoli.
At the request of the authority, Turkish bomb squads have cleared civilian areas of explosives.
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