The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) has given its support to a large consultative session of Libya’s House of Representatives that was launched, on Tuesday, in the Moroccan city of Tangiers.
More than 100 Libyan MPs representing Libya’s eastern, western, and southern areas, as well as both sides of the crisis in the war-torn country, are gathering in the Moroccan city on Tuesday and Wednesday.
They are participating in a consultative meeting to discuss methods of resolving the Libyan crisis, settling disputes, and unifying Libya’s sovereign institutions.
The meeting came at the invitation of the Moroccan Parliament, after some disputes emerged during previous political dialogue.
“That such a diverse range of Parliamentarians from Libya’s three regions are meeting under one roof is a positive and welcome step,” UNSMIL said on Tuesday.
It asserted that it has always given its support to the unity of Libya’s House of Representatives.
“We hope the House of Representatives will fulfil the Libyan people’s expectations for the implementation of the roadmap agreed upon by the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF), towards the holding of national elections on 24 December 2021,” it added.
Morocco has already hosted several rounds of talks between rival Libyan officials over the crisis, including rounds of Libyan political dialogue in the city of Bouznika.
Tuesday’s meeting comes a day after Secretary-General and head of UNSMIL, Stephanie Williams, convened the first virtual meeting of the second round of the LPDF.
The meeting took place to discuss “the selection criteria of the unified executive authorities for the preparatory period preceding the elections”.
Last week, LPDF participants reached an agreement to hold presidential and parliamentary elections in Libya in December 2021, as the first to take place in Libya since 2014.
The LPDF was launched in Tunisia on 9 November, with the aim of reaching a comprehensive political agreement to end the Libyan crisis. A total of 75 participants took part in the forum, all of whom were chosen by the UNSMIL to represent various Libyan parties.
The talks in Tunisia were held in parallel with military consultations in the northern Libyan city of Sirte. They aimed to complete discussions on the ceasefire agreement reached late in October, and signed by the rival Libyan parties following the UN-facilitated talks in Geneva.
