Libyan council calls for interagency reconciliation

TRIPOLI, Libya

Mohammad Menfi, head of Libya’s Presidential Council, called for reconciliation between institutions Monday, expressing his support for the executive authority.

Menfi received Jan Kubis, the UN Special Envoy to Libya, at his office in Tripoli and Raisedon Zenenga, the coordinator of the UN Libya Support Mission (UNSMIL), according to a statement from the Presidential Council.

Pointing out that the new executive authority depends on the decisions taken in Geneva, Menfi said that comprehensive reconciliation between institutions should be achieved, the unification of state institutions, and support for the 5+5 Joint Military Committee to continue its work.

Kubis stated that the UN and UNSMIL favor stability and a political solution in Libya, stressing that they support all efforts to unite state institutions and the 5+5 Joint Military Committee.

According to the UN-led roadmap for the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum, President Mohamed Menfi, Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh and the incoming administration are expected to lead the country to elections by Dec. 24, 2021.

On Feb. 5, Libyan delegates elected Menfi to head the three-member Presidential Council and Dbeibeh as the new prime minister.

The Libyan parliament granted a vote of confidence to Dbeibeh's government on March 10 with 132 votes of the 133 lawmakers who attended the session.

Libyans hope it will end years of civil war that have engulfed the country since the ouster and killing of strongman Muammar al-Qaddafi in 2011.

*Writing by Merve Berker