Mohammad Menfi, head of Libya’s presidential council, called for reconciliation between the war – torn country’s institutions on Monday and expressed his support for the executive branch.
Menfi received Jan Kubis, the UN Special Envoy to Libya, at his office in Tripoli and Raisedon Zenenga, the coordinator of the UN Libya Support Mission (UNSMIL), according to a statement from the Presidential Council.
Menfi pointed out that the new executive is dependent on the decisions taken in Geneva and said that comprehensive reconciliation between institutions should be achieved, as well as the unification of state institutions and support for the 5 + 5 Joint Military Committee to continue its work.
Kubis stated that the UN and UNSMIL advocate stability and a political solution in Libya and stressed that they support all efforts to unite state institutions and the Joint Military Committee 5 + 5.
According to the UN-led strategy for Libya’s political dialogue forum, President Menfi, Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah and the incoming government are expected to lead the country to elections by 24 December 2021.
In another meeting, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the new Libyan Prime Minister Dbeibah also stressed the need for a free and fair election and other measures to end the Libyan conflict during a conversation on Monday, the US State Department said.
The two officials “also stressed the need for full implementation of the ceasefire agreement signed on 23 October 2020, including the immediate removal of all foreign forces and mercenaries from Libya,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
On February 5, Libyan delegates elected Menfi to chair the three-member presidential council and Dbeibah as the new prime minister.
The Libyan parliament granted the Dbeibah government a vote of confidence on March 10, with 132 votes from the 133 lawmakers who attended the session.
Libyans hope it will end years of civil war that have engulfed the country since the challenge and assassination of strongman Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
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