Libya to hold October conference to garner support 

The head of Libya’s presidency council said yesterday he will hold an international conference in October to garner support for the country’s stability, warning that it faces “serious challenges” that could undermine planned December elections, Reuters reports.

Addressing the annual UN gathering of world leaders in New York, Mohammed Al-Menfi said the conference would aim to ensure “unified, consistent” international support and restore a sense of Libyan leadership and ownership over the country’s future.

“We are faced with serious challenges and quick-paced developments, which compel us – out of responsibility – to think of more realistic and practical options to avoid an impasse in the political process, which could in turn, undermine the looming elections and bring us back to square one,” he said.

National elections, planned for 24 December, were pushed as a way to end Libya’s decade-long crisis, but have been enmeshed in bitter arguments over legitimacy that may unravel a months-long peace process.

“Libya is at a critical juncture,” Al-Menfi said.

READ: Libya’s Presidential Council asks gov’t to continue its work, support elections 

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told reporters in New York on Monday that France, Germany and Italy would co-host an international conference on Libya on 12 November to ensure the electoral calendar would remain in place.

In 2014, eastern and western factions split Libya in two in a civil war, with an internationally recognised government in Tripoli and a rival administration backed by the House of Representatives in the east.

The 24 December election was mandated by the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum, a UN-selected assembly that set a roadmap for peace in Libya, a major oil producer, through installing a unity government and holding a nationwide vote.

Until elections are held, the assembly selected a three-man presidency council headed by Al-Menfi and installed Abdulhamid Dbeibeh as prime minister of the interim government.

Earlier this week, Libya’s eastern-based parliament said it had withdrawn confidence from the unity government, though it would continue to operate as a caretaker administration.

Dbeibeh rejected the decision, claiming it was “illegitimate”.