Libya: Resumption of political dialogue to complete implementation of Road Map

CAIRO - 28 March 2020: On Friday, the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) resumed its sessions more than a month and a half after its meetings stopped, to assess the progress achieved in the political process and discuss ways to move forward in implementing the Road Map that has been planned to conduct the elections by the end of 2021.

On February 5, the 75 members of the LPDF succeeded in electing an executive authority by appointing businessman Abdul Hamid al-Dabaiba as prime minister, in addition to forming a three-member presidential council headed by diplomat Mohamed Al-Manafi, after a marathon of arduous negotiations that lasted for several months under the auspices of the United Nations, and after years of stalemate and political division in the country.

Forum member Abul-Ezz Al-Farsi said the session will be held via video conference and will be supervised for the first time by UN envoy Jan Kubis. Kubis, a former Slovakian foreign minister, is currently the U.N. special coordinator for Lebanon. He has also served as the U.N. special envoy in Afghanistan and Iraq. The appointment of Kubis comes after the Security Council approved in December a plan by Guterres' to name Bulgarian diplomat Nickolay Mladenov to the Libya role.

The conference will focus on the adherence to the road map in as well as following up and evaluating the unification of institutions to start electoral arrangements.

Only nine months are left before the date of the elections agreed upon by the Libyan parties, and so far the constitutional rule and laws to manage elections have not been established, which is the task assigned to members of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum as well as the House of Representatives and the State Council.

Civil war broke out in Libya after the toppling of long-time ruler Muammer Gaddafi in 2011, who was later killed. Numerous militias are fighting for power and influence in the country, with Tripoli-allied militias backed by Turkey, Qatar and Italy.