United Nations to offer all support to Libya in holding election within 18 months

The United Nations spokesperson Stephane Dujarric during a press conference on Thursday, November 12 said that the UN will be providing all the required support to Libya in holding the Presidential and Parliamentary elections in the future. On Wednesday, November 11, she announced that the participants of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum in Tunis have agreed on holding the elections within 18 months. Also, the forum participants had agreed to a road map for a transition period during which an interim government and presidential council would be created. 

UN offers support to Libya 

According to the reports by ANI, Dujarric said, “We will offer whatever support the Libyans are needed”. She added, “The discussions are obviously still continuing, but we will be there to accompany the Libyans and assess exactly what the needs are for the election.”. The forum which started on Monday, November 9, will be continuing till November 20. 

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Since the overthrow of the country's long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya has been divided between two opposing governments. The Government of National Accord (GNA) and the Libyan National Army (LNA) control the country's west and east, respectively. Recently, the two major rival factions in Libya’s nation's long-running civil war announced signing a permanent ceasefire agreement. The cease-fire agreement that was announced on Friday, October 23 is being considered by the United Nations’ as ‘historic’ after years of civil war had divided the north African nation into two. However, despite the announcement, experts have begun casting doubts over whether the ceasefire agreement would last.

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As per the cease-fire agreement, both the rival Libyan factions have agreed that all foreign mercenaries will be forced out of the country and that both parties will come together for direct talks in November in order to discuss and establish a long-lasting solution to the conflict. As per reports, the cease-fire agreement was signed in Geneva, Switzerland. Stephanie Turco Williams, the top UN envoy for Libya who led mediation talks, said she was honoured to be part of the historic moment but also stated that she remained cautious because a "long and difficult" journey still remained ahead of them in terms of achieving peace in Libya.

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(Image Credits: ANI)