The Prime Minister of the Libyan National Unity Government, Abdel Hamid al-Dabaiba, rejected - on Friday evening - the announced agreement between the heads of the House of Representatives, Aguila Saleh, and the "highest state" Khaled al-Mashri regarding the file of sovereign positions, while the UN envoy to Libya, Abdullah Batili, welcomed the agreement, and urged all parties to engage. In a comprehensive interview.

Dabaiba renewed his call to the presidents of the House of Representatives and the state to "accelerate the adoption of a fair constitutional rule that ends the legal problem that prevents the holding of elections, as happened last December."

Dabaiba said that the presidents of the House of Representatives and the state should expedite the adoption of a constitutional rule that would end the problem with holding the elections.

He added - in a tweet via his official account on Twitter - that the Libyans are asking everyone to fulfill their obligations towards the elections, but talking about parallel tracks such as sharing sovereign positions is no longer acceptable.

The Libyans are asking everyone to fulfill their obligations towards the elections. Talking about parallel tracks such as sharing sovereign positions is no longer acceptable.

I renew my call to Messrs. Aqila and Al-Mishri to expedite the adoption of a fair constitutional rule that ends the legal problem that prevents the holding of elections, as happened last December.

— Abdulhamid AlDabaiba (@Dabaibahamid) October 21, 2022

In a dispute over electoral laws, Libya failed to hold elections last December 24, after it was decided to hold them through the political dialogue forum sponsored by the United Nations between the parties to the Libyan conflict at its headquarters in Geneva.

international welcome

For his part, the UN envoy to Libya, Abdullah Batili, welcomed - yesterday, Friday - the "resumption of dialogue" between the presidents of the House of Representatives and the Supreme Council of the State, and urged all parties to engage in a comprehensive dialogue.

Batili said - in a series of tweets - that he learned of the results of the meeting that took place today between Parliament Speaker Aguila Saleh and President of the Supreme Council of State Khaled Al-Mashri, which was hosted by the Moroccan government.

2/2 The Special Representative of the Secretary-General welcomes the resumption of dialogue between the two leaders and expresses his readiness to discuss details, mechanisms and timetables for implementing their commitments.

It also urges all Libyan leaders to engage in an inclusive dialogue as the only way to overcome the current impasse and meet the aspirations of the Libyan people.

— UNSMIL (@UNSMILibya) October 21, 2022

He declared that he welcomes the resumption of dialogue between the two leaders, expressing readiness to discuss details, mechanisms and timetables for implementing their commitments.

In his tweets, the UN envoy urged all Libyan leaders to engage in a comprehensive dialogue, as the only way to overcome the current impasse and meet the aspirations of the Libyan people.

Agreement details

Earlier on Friday, after a meeting between them in the Moroccan capital, Rabat, Saleh and Al-Mashri announced that they had reached an agreement on implementing the outputs of the Bouznika track related to sovereign positions within the coming weeks, provided that it does not exceed the end of the year in all cases.

Al-Mashri said, "We agreed to unify the executive authority and sovereign positions in a period not exceeding next year," and promised that "the beginning of the year 2023 will not occur unless the executive authority and sovereign positions are united."

Al-Jazeera correspondent in Rabat had mentioned that Al-Mashri and Saleh had arrived in Rabat on Thursday and held closed meetings, and that their discussions had made progress on a number of controversial points.

According to the reporter, the two sides' discussions focused on the files of sovereign positions, the constitutional basis on which the Libyan elections will be held, as well as the government division.


The meeting between Al-Mashri and Saleh came within the efforts to complete the discussions initiated by the “13 + 13” committee formed by the House of Representatives and the State in the Moroccan city of Bouznika in January 2021, regarding the file of appointing personalities to sovereign positions.

Al-Mashri explained that he agreed with Saleh that "the division of institutions has led to poor conditions for citizens and a deepening of the crisis," stressing the need to unify them.

Among the sovereign positions that the parties to the conflict held talks to fill are: the presidency of the Supreme Judicial Council, the attorney general, the presidency of the Central Bank, the presidency of the Oil Corporation, and the presidency of the General Intelligence.

For his part, Saleh said that he "agreed with Al-Mashri to implement the outcomes of the Bouznika path related to sovereign positions before the end of next December," stressing work to reach a unified executive authority as soon as possible.

He added that they also agreed on "the need to resume dialogue and do what is necessary to hold presidential and parliamentary elections."

Libya is going through a political crisis represented by the presence of two governments: the first is mandated by the House of Representatives last March headed by Fathi Bashagha, and the second is the National Unity Government headed by Abdel Hamid al-Dabaiba, which refuses to surrender except to a government that comes through a new elected parliament.