A single administration that controls all of Libya’s territory must be set up, Libyan Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj said on Thursday.
Speaking on television to the country for its 69th independence anniversary, Sarraj said that the Internationally Recognized Government of National Agreement (GNA) supports the idea of holding presidential and parliamentary elections in December 2021 throughout Libya.
He added that GNA had made a serious effort to make the election a success and called on the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) to provide technical assistance.
Libya celebrated its Independence Day on Thursday with military parades held in the center of the capital Tripoli under tight security.
Hundreds of Libyans carrying the red, green and black national flags gathered at central Tripoli’s Martyrs’ Square, formerly known as Green Square, where the assassinated dictator Moammar Gadhafi often spoke.
Sarraj and members of his cabinet, all wearing masks due to the coronavirus pandemic, attended a dinner parade of military and police forces.
The area was closed to traffic from Wednesday with police cars placed around the square. A stage was set up for speeches and patriotic songs to be performed before a firework display in the evening.
The celebration of Libya’s independence on December 24, proclaimed by King Idriss in 1951, was removed from the official calendar for over 40 years under the Gadhafi regime and reintroduced in 2012.
Gadhafi was overthrown and killed in a NATO uprising in 2011.
The North African country has since broken out of violence and has become a battleground for tribal militias, foreign powers and mercenaries, as well as being a gateway for desperate migrants on their way to Europe.
Two rival camps are now vying for power, with an administration in the east supported by the forces of putschist general Khalifa Haftar against the UN-recognized GNA.
A ceasefire signed in October under the leadership of the UN and other respected stakeholders has enabled the rival parties to return to the negotiating table.
.
