16-22 December: UNSMIL confirms LPDF is unable to agree on new Libyan transitional executive authority

Dec 23, 2020 | Libyan actors

This week saw the stalling of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) alongside military activity in the western Libya.

On 14 December, clashes occurred between the Sirte Military Police and the Libyan National Army’s (LNA) 128 Brigade, with at least one injury. The incident is alleged to have been the result of a family dispute. It is the most recent in a series of altercations between the local Sirte police force and armed elements.

On 15 December, the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) confirmed that talks had failed to reach an agreement on the process for creating a new Libyan transitional executive authority. Acting Head of UNSMIL Stephanie Williams stated that delegates to the LPDF were unable to agree on the mechanism for selecting candidates. Williams declared that UNSMIL intends to select an executive committee from the LPDF delegates to help bridge the differences among the delegates.

On 16 December, the GNA Minister of Defence, Saleh al-Deen al-Namroush, announced that his ministry had formed a committee to ‘follow up on the war crimes committed by [LNA Commander] Khalifa Haftar’s forces’.