UN envoy: Libya agreement stands little chance

There is little chance for amending the Libyan Political Agreement according to the UN envoy to Libya, Ghassan Salame.

“I asked the concerned parties, when I first was appointed as Head of the UNSMIL, to place the LPA in my action plan that I proposed to re-stabilise Libya. I think there remains little hope that such amendments can happen,” Salame told the Security Council on Libya’s latest developments.

Salame warned how the LPA was becoming slowly redundant as Libya etches closer to planned elections this year, adding that he would give it one last push today during a meeting with the joint amendment committee who will have their final say about the proposed modifications.

“A free and fair election before 2018 ends is the aim of the UN. We shall make sure before Libya goes into elections that they would be comprehensive and inclusive of all parties and their results will be accepted by all,” Salame further added.

According to Salame, the security and economic conditions in Libya make it necessary for the political process, which has been stagnant since the uprising which ousted leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, to happen quickly in order for Libya to become united against terror threats.

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The UN-backed LPA was signed in Morocco in 2015 and was to be used as basis for enabling Libya to regain its political framework in order to begin governing the war-torn country. However politically fractured groups loyal to the governments in the capital and east of the country have failed to honour the agreement and since called for major changes which have also failed to materialise.

“Poverty is continuing and middle class Libyans are sending their children to work. The government is unable to provide services to the people in weak financial conditions despite the fact that the country is producing a million bpd of oil. Concern is still rising on the threats of IS [Daesh] and Al-Qaeda which are still conducting hit-and-run attacks, while bodies are being found in different places, including Tripoli,” Salame explained.

Salame confirmed that UNSMIL will be opening its Benghazi office soon once the situation in the city improves following fighting last year by the self-styled Libyan National Army to rid the city of Daesh and militant groups.

According to the UN Human Rights Office’s recent report, armed groups are continuing to execute and torture civilians in Libya in almost complete impunity since 2011.

Libyans and migrants are often held incommunicado in arbitrary detention in appalling conditions including captured migrants being bought and sold on “open slave markets”, the UN reported to the Human Rights Council.

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Libya is split between rival governments in the east and west while ports and beaches are largely in the hands of armed groups who smuggle mainly African migrants onto boats heading for Italy and Europe.

Armed groups are “the main perpetrators of grave human rights violations and act with almost complete impunity,” Andrew Gilmour, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights said.

Detention centres run by armed groups, “including those with links to ministries” have the worst record, he added.

Human Rights Watch has advised Libya to resist rushing into elections this year because the country is too volatile and authorities cannot guarantee freedom of assembly or free speech, which are essential for a vote.