Russia supports the new government and the major powers are neutral.. Libya's delegate to the United Nations warns of the specter of division in his country

Libya's delegate to the United Nations, Taher al-Sunni, warned against the return of the "ghost of division" to his country, as it suffers from a "political blockage" due to the failure to hold elections, while the United Nations and major powers did not take sides with the conflicting parties in Libya, with the exception of Russia, which supported the new government.

Al-Sunni said - in a speech yesterday during a session of the UN Security Council on the "situation in Libya" at the United Nations headquarters in New York - that the situation in Libya has become very sensitive, and there is a state of political obstruction due to the failure to implement the elections, which was scheduled for (24) December Last December.

These elections could not be held due to differences between the official Libyan institutions regarding the electoral laws and the role of the judiciary in the electoral process.

Al-Sunni added that the specter of political division hangs over Libya again, and everyone has no choice but to work together during this period and focus efforts to defuse any conflict and prevent any possible fighting.

He stressed the need to respond to the aspirations of nearly 3 million Libyan voters who were seeking to participate in the elections.

He called on all international actors to support the efforts of the Electoral Commission in order to arrange the upcoming elections.

Al-Sunni said that the efforts of the Presidential Council are continuing to reach consensus among Libyans, resolve the current political impasse and achieve national reconciliation.

He warned of "serious consequences" as a result of "attempts by some (unnamed) parties to transfer regional conflicts to Libya and to manipulate the energy card."

Fears

Fears are rising that Libya will slip back into a "civil war", after the inauguration of the House of Representatives in Tobruk (east) Fathi Bashagha as head of a new government, on the first of this March.

The Prime Minister of the National Unity Government, Abdel Hamid Dabaiba, refuses to hand over power except to a government that comes through a new elected parliament.

Dabaiba is based on the outcomes of the Libyan Political Forum, which set the term of the transitional executive authority at 18 months, extending until June 24.

Libyans hope to hold parliamentary and presidential elections that will contribute to ending an armed conflict that has plagued their oil-rich country for years.

UN warning

The major powers in the UN Security Council, as well as the United Nations, at a meeting yesterday, Wednesday, committed great caution about the political crisis shaking Libya, without any of them - with the exception of Russia - siding with one of the two competing authorities in this country.

And Rosemary DiCarlo, assistant secretary-general for political affairs, warned at the beginning of the session that "the Libyan executive authority is facing a crisis that, if not resolved, could lead to instability and parallel governments in the country."

She said that "the United Nations is making great efforts to resolve this crisis" in order to "agree on a constitutional basis to hold elections as soon as this becomes possible," praising the work of the American Stephanie Williams, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General of the international organization.

If this does not materialize, Rosemary DiCarlo said, the risk is a new division of institutions "and undoing the gains made in the past two years".

France also called for "protection of gains" while the United States reminded that Libyans above all want elections, and Albania summed up the Western position by citing "cautiousness", "patience" and "restraint".

Russia supports

On behalf of Russia, Deputy Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Dmitry Polyansky affirmed his country's support for the new executive authority chosen by the parliament stationed in the east of the country and rejected by Tripoli.

"This is an important step towards resolving the protracted crisis," he said.

The Security Council is supposed to extend the United Nations political mission in Libya at the end of next April, a deadline that coincides with the end of the renewable contract for Stephanie Williams.

The Russian diplomat stressed the need to appoint a new UN envoy "as soon as possible."

Since the resignation of the Slovakian Jan Kubis last November, no UN envoy to Libya has been appointed.

And the demand to appoint an African envoy to the United Nations to Libya is old.

In 2020, Africa nominated one Algerian and one Ghanaian after another, but these proposals were rejected by the United States.

Libya is undermining divisions between competing institutions in the east and west and has had two rival governments since early March, as happened between 2014 and 2012 in the midst of the civil war after the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi's regime.

A government formed by former Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha and supported by the House of Representatives in the east is competing with the current government in the capital, Tripoli, which was born out of political agreements under the auspices of the United Nations and is led by Abdel Hamid Dabaiba, who refuses to cede power except to an elected government.