Stephanie Williams' mediation initiative to rescue Libya's political process (Analysis by BA Youssef, PANA correspondent)

Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - Nearly four months after resuming her duties in Libya following her appointment last December as Special Adviser to the UN Secretary General, Stephanie Williams on Friday presented her first mediation initiative to overcome the political stalemate that is aggravating the situation in the north African country.

This proposal comes at the end of long months of exploratory contacts that Mrs. Williams has conducted both inside and outside Libya, to save the political process compromised by the postponement of the December 24 elections and aggravated by the emergence of two governments.

The architect of the intra-Libyan consensus in the framework of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum, which she brought to a successful conclusion after the resignation of the UN Secretary General's Special Representative, the Lebanese Ghassan Salamé, for whom she acted as interim president.

The development saw the adoption of a roadmap establishing a transitional phase that should have been crowned by elections last December.

Williams took up her pilgrim's staff following the departure of the Special Envoy, the Slovak, Jan Kubis, to preach peace in order to safeguard the situation that has worsened in Libya through mediation between the Libyan Parliament and the High State Council.

This mediation comes at the end of the unprecedented deepening of the political crisis in Libya, which resulted in the existence of two governments, that of the incumbent Prime Minister, Abdelhamid Al-Dbaiba, and the Prime Minister appointed by the Parliament, Fathi Bachagha.

This situation has deepened the divisions in the country and polarisation and tension, with a perceptible military escalation that could set Libya ablaze at the slightest spark.

The UN official recalled that she is "here to support the electoral process and the aspirations of 2.8 million Libyans", announcing that she "will send correspondences to the House of Representatives (Parliament) and the High State Council regarding the consultations I propose to initiate immediately to establish a constitutional basis to lead the country to elections as soon as possible.

It is in this context that Williams took to the stage to explain her initiative.

She tweeted on Saturday: "The initiative I have launched aims at activating and consolidating the consensus between the House of Representatives and the High State Council through the two roadmap committees," adding that "it stems from my concern to support Libyans in their quest to end the spectre of division and build a real and solid consensus in order to prepare a constitutional basis to hold elections as soon as possible.

The UN Secretary General's Special Advisor stressed: "I follow with regret the media campaigns targeting efforts to end the state of fragmentation and division in Libya," adding: "Here I want to stress that I stand with the millions of Libyans who want to change this unacceptable reality and renew the legitimacy of institutions through the ballot box."

Presented on Friday, Williams' initiative proposes the formation of a 12-member joint committee between the two institutions, aiming to establish a consensual constitutional basis for holding elections as soon as possible.

According to the proposal, this committee will meet on March 15 to work for a fortnight to establish the constitutional rule.

It should be noted that after the postponement of the December 24 election, the Libyan Parliament formed a roadmap committee that coordinated with the High State Council on an arrangement to adapt an amendment to the Constitutional Declaration focusing on the formation of a 24-member joint committee between the two institutions, experts and members of the Constituent Assembly to revise the draft Constitution as a prelude to a referendum and the organisation of general elections within a period not exceeding 14 months.

The agreement also covers the appointment of a new government, effectively establishing a new transitional phase in the country.

But the Council of State rejected the agreement and voted against the constitutional amendment and the formation of the government, proposing the formation of a joint commission to draft a constitutional basis for the holding of general elections as soon as possible.

The High Council of State confirmed on Sunday, by a vote, the approval of the proposal by Williams, to form a joint committee with the House of Representatives to establish a constitutional rule and set a forthcoming session as the date for the selection of the six members who will represent it in the joint committee.

On Friday, the Chairman of the High State Council, Khaled Al-Mechri, said that the Council welcomed the correspondence of Williams regarding the formation of a committee to prepare a constitutional basis necessary to hold elections as soon as possible, and rejecting the transitional stages.

He considered that this correspondence clearly responds to the request of his institution, which last September approved a comprehensive constitutional rule, "on which to build a national consensus".

Parliament has not yet officially reacted to Williams' proposal, but according to statements by some MPs, this initiative on the drafting of a new constitutional basis is an attempt to torpedo the arrangement reached with the High Council of State and included in a plenary session of the legislative body in the Constitutional Declaration.

MP Issa Al-Araibi said that the 12th amendment of the Constitutional Declaration and the formation of the new government are the result of an intra-Libyan agreement between the House of Representatives' roadmap committees and the High State Council.

Regarding the initiative of Williams, Al-Araibi said in a statement to Libya's private TV channel "Libya Al-Ahrar" that, according to her recent tweets, she went back on the formation of a new commission and stuck to the roadmap committee formed by the House of Representatives and the High State Council.

He stressed that Williams is an advisor to the UN Secretary General and has no right to interfere in Libyan affairs in this way.

A reaction from the Speaker of the Libyan Parliament, Aguila Saleh, to Williams' initiative was reported by the US Special Envoy and Ambassador to Libya, Richard Norland, in a telephone interview on Saturday, welcoming "the commitment of the Speaker of the House of Representatives to join the UN's efforts to reach a swift agreement on a constitutional basis, and emphasising the crucial role of the High National Elections Commission".

According to a tweet from the US embassy, both sides agreed that Libya "cannot return to the turmoil of the past".

The United States has been heavily involved in recent days in efforts to de-escalate the crisis in Libya after the escalation of the crisis and the risk of armed clashes in the North African country.

The US ambassador contacted the two Libyan prime ministers, urging them to preserve calm and unity in Libya, welcoming the willingness of the two Libyan officials to appease each other and pledging "to avoid escalation and violence in the country".

As with the setting of the election date on 24 December last year, the United States worked hard to support the holding of the elections on that date under less-than-optimal conditions, seeing the elections as the only way out of the crisis through new institutions with legitimacy from the ballot box to resolve the outstanding issues.

Five Western countries, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States, supported Williams' initiative. They reaffirmed in a statement on Thursday "their full respect for Libya's sovereignty and for the political process defined and led by Libyans, under the aegis of the United Nations".

They reiterated "their support for the mediation efforts led by the United Nations through the Special Adviser to the Secretary-General and the United Nations Mission of Support in Libya (UNSMIL) in order to support the country's peaceful transition, facilitate dialogue between political, economic and security actors, and maintain the focus on holding credible, transparent and inclusive presidential and parliamentary elections as soon as possible, in order to meet the democratic aspirations of the Libyan people.

The nagging issue on the Libyan scene at the moment in light of this impasse is the need to hold general elections as soon as possible in response to the aspiration of the overwhelming majority of Libyans.

With this in mind, the Prime Minister of the government of national unity has rejected the idea of a new transitional stage, proposing a plan to hold parliamentary elections and a referendum on the constitution by the end of June, vowing to hand over power only to an elected authority.

It was joined by the State Council, which reneged on the agreement with the Parliament, considering that the 14-month period, which is already long, could be extended by several more months and does not respond to the current situation.

However, Parliament justified the 14-month period adopted in the roadmap by the requests presented by the High Electoral Commission, which asked for 6 to 8 months to deal with the obstacles that had prevented the holding of the elections on 24 December last year, and the Civil Status Authority to address the problem of false registration numbers.

It is recalled that the High Electoral Commission had justified the postponement of the December elections by the political conditions in the country, the insecurity and the legal challenges against the candidates.

Observers hope that the parliament will accept Williams' initiative to establish a constitutional basis through a joint commission so that a date for the organisation of general elections can be set as soon as possible.

But even if this obstacle is overcome, the existence of two governments, each sticking to their positions and claiming legitimacy, remains a serious threat to the stability of Libya which, despite the world's concern over the war in Ukraine, has benefited from the interest of the international community with a session of the Security Council scheduled for 16 March in the framework of an open briefing and consultations on the situation in Libya taking place against a background of political tensions.

-0- PANA BY/IS/BBA/VAO 6March2022