The UN’s new special envoy for Libya called on foreign forces and mercenaries on Wednesday to leave the conflict-torn country required in last year’s ceasefire agreement.
Speaking to the UN Security Council, Jan Kubis warned of “pitfalls” that could hinder or delay the December elections in order to provide a unified government for the nation after years of division.
Kubis said the ceasefire agreement in October remains in force, but foreign forces and mercenaries have not provided and “there are reports of ongoing fortifications and the establishment of defensive positions” along the key axis in central Libya from the strategic city of Sirte to the nearby Jufra area.
“Their withdrawal from Libya will go a long way in restoring the country’s unity and sovereignty and healing the deep wounds caused by years of internal strife, active conflict and foreign interference,” he said.
US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the highest priority for the UN and Libya must be to organize free and fair elections on 23 December. “And that means that all external actors involved in this conflict must stop their military intervention, respect the Libyan ceasefire agreement, and start withdrawing from Libya immediately,” she stressed.
“There can be no exceptions to this provision,” Thomas-Greenfield told the council. “The continued presence of certain forces has become an excuse to continue the presence of others.”
“It is time for everyone to be stripped down and end this eternal cycle,” she said, ceasing to violate the UN arms embargo and to train and fund mercenaries and proxy forces.
Britain’s UN Ambassador Barbara Woodward pointed out “entrepreneurs working for organizations such as the Russian Wagner Group and the Syrian mercenaries fighting on both sides.”
Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the Council if there are Russians in Libya, they are not affiliated with the government.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres sent a letter to the Council describing preliminary plans for a UN-organized component to Libya’s led plans to monitor the ceasefire, which reportedly includes 100 policemen from each side who are ready to be deployed. He gave no figures but said that unarmed UN weapons guards would first focus on the coastal road along the Mediterranean and could later expand their operations.
Kubis said parts of the Daesh terrorist group also continue to operate in the country.
The UN envoy called for continued support for Libyan authorities to “act against international terrorism and to fight illegal armed groups and organized criminal networks that plague the country, which is crucial for Libya’s stability.”
A recently published report by UN experts accused several foreign governments of turning the oil-rich country into a stage to play out rivalries and ignore UN sanctions and a decade-long UN arms embargo, which it said was “completely ineffective.”
During the conflict, the GNA (National Accord Government), the UN-backed legitimate administration in Tripoli, received support from Turkey and Qatar. Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates (United Arab Emirates), Russia and Egypt have supported Putist general Khalifa Haftar and his illegal militia.
The report documented dozens of weapons shipments, including drones, air missiles, artillery pieces and armored vehicles. It also documented the deployment of mercenaries brought to Libya to strengthen its warring sides, particularly in the offensive Haftar forces launched in April 2019 to try to capture the capital Tripoli from the UN-backed government.
Haftar’s campaign collapsed in mid-2020 and his warriors were forced to retreat to Sirte, largely due to heavy Turkish military support for their rivals. The failure of the offensive led to a ceasefire in October and the formation of an interim government responsible for leading the country to elections that took power on 16 March.
Kubis said the December 24 election, strongly supported by Libya’s increasingly young population, “should remain a key focus for the new interim executive and state institutions.”
He called on the House of Representatives to adopt as soon as possible the agreement reached on 12 February, which was approved by its Constitutional Committee and the Prime Minister on constitutional grounds for the presidential and parliamentary elections. And he said it was “absolutely necessary” to start working on electoral laws immediately, which the High National Election Commission says must be adopted by July 21 for the vote to take place on December 24.
As the UN and the international community consider how best to promote the interim government’s priorities, Kubis said, “we should pay attention to the pitfalls of the way forward, especially those aimed at delaying or blocking the road to the December elections.”
While the ceasefire has dramatically reduced civilian casualties, Kubis, the UN political mission in Libya, said he leads “continuing to document murders, forced disappearances, sexual violence, including rape, arbitrary arrests and detentions, attacks on activists and human rights defenders and hates crime. ”
Kubis also pointed to the more than 8,850 people arbitrarily detained in 28 official prisons in Libya, with an estimated 60% -70% in custody and about 10,000 people detained in centers under the authority of militias and armed groups. They include an estimated 480 women – 184 of them foreigners – and 63 children.
