A standoff between two rival governments in Libya threatens to undermine the peace secured by the 2020 ceasefire agreement, Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit has warned.
He said Libya “could return to the difficult stage it witnessed before the agreement.” It comes after the Libyan House of Representatives swore in a new rival government headed by Fathi Bashagha. The existing Government of National Unity, headed by Abdu Hamid Dbeibah, rejected the voting process through which the Bashagha government obtained confidence.
An official source in the organization’s general secretariat said Aboul Gheit “once again appeals to all Libyan representatives to work seriously and responsibly towards creating the necessary security, political and legal conditions for holding national elections at the earliest possible opportunity, in order to fulfill the wishes of the Libyan voters.”
Aboul Gheit added: “The conditions in Libya today have become more than ever a reason for holding elections, renewing the legitimacy of Libyan institutions and ending the transitional stages that were prolonged in a way that made them lose their effectiveness in achieving the goals for which they were founded.”
The Arab League source said Aboul Gheit stressed the importance of a political process that would put the country on the path of stability and construction, noting “the league’s permanent readiness to support any serious Libyan effort that secures consensus on a clear, practical and scheduled political road map with specific periods of time.”
