15-21 Nov: Salame Tells UNSC That Political Process Is On Track Despite Criticism From Swehli and HoR Disruptions

Nov 21, 2017 | Libyan actors

The UN Envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame made a strong case to the UN Security Council on 15 November that the Libyan political process was still on track. He said that political negotiations between the House of Representatives (HoR) and the High Council of State (HCS) dialogue committees to amend the Libyan Political Agreement (LPA) were beginning to bear fruit and that he believes a final deal will be reached. On 14 November, a document was leaked describing the new tentatively agreed mandates and mechanisms for the final transitional governance structure.

However, President of the HCS Abdurrahman al-Swehli has not supported Salame’s latest initiatives. In a statement on 16 November, Swehli re-acknowledged the LPA and the UN roadmap but harshly criticised Salame for ‘ignoring’ consensus and ‘partnership’. Swehli highlighted the issue of achieving consensus between the HoR and the HCS in the Presidential Council (PC) appointment mechanism as an area of concern. He also said that appointing the government should be solely the concern of the PC and that should the HoR fail twice to vote in confidence for the government, the government should be appointed by decree of the PC.

To add to this complication, on 19 November a delegation of 29 HoR members, aboard a UN chartered flight, was not allowed to land in Tubruq airport and was forced to fly back to Tripoli. The delegation was reportedly going to vote on the new LPA amendment but was prevented from doing so.