The Head of European Diplomacy, Josep Borrell says the European Union is ready to do “more” to support the organization of elections scheduled in Libya in late December by supporting the reform of the security sector
Borrell said at a press conference on Wednesday with his Libyan counterpart, Najla al-Mangoush that “The EU has already provided technical support to the High National Electoral Commission (in Libya) and we are ready to give more,”
Brussels is “willing to help the Libyan government reform the security sector,” a sector that has disintegrated since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in 2011, giving way to a myriad of militias and armed groups with shifting allegiances.
After a ceasefire agreement between rival authorities in October 2020, a unified, transitional government was installed under UN auspices in early 2021 to lead the country to elections, scheduled for December 24.
But divisions have resurfaced and the holding of the poll is becoming increasingly hypothetical in the absence of a constitutional framework.
“There is no time to lose in approving the necessary legislation,” Borrell continued, urging Parliament “to do its job” and take “concrete steps,”
“Time is running out,” he said, recalling that “there are only 105 days left until December 24.
Borrell welcomed “the many advances made over the past year, that is the ceasefire, unified political institutions and roadmap for elections”. He however charged them that “it is time to implement and consolidate this progress,”
For her part, the head of Libyan diplomacy wished “more cooperation with the EU”, indicating that she had discussed with her European counterpart the electoral process as well as “the management of the porous borders in the south” Libya, among other issues.
At the end of August, the minister had not ruled out the possibility of postponing the elections if the parliament delayed ratifying the electoral law.
Libya has been trying to emerge from a decade of bloody violence since the fall and death of Gaddafi, chaos marked in recent years by the existence of rival powers in the east and west against a backdrop of foreign interference.
