It is difficult to expect U.N. Secretary General’s special representative in Libya Ghassan Salama’s next actions, and the U.N. stance on Libya is “negative” and would harm the peace process, George Washington professor William Lawrence said Monday.
The U.N. has not commented on the attempts of Italy and France to settle the situation in Libya despite its participation in the Palermo Conference, Lawrence, an international affairs professor, told 218News.
Lawrence believes that the Palermo Conference, which is part of Italy’s efforts to contain the situation in Libya, is too complicated as its agenda has been changed several times in the past two weeks.
Meanwhile, Salame had an ambitious plan to resolve the crisis as he called for amending the political agreement and gathering Libyan parties in a comprehensive conference leading to elections, said Lawrence, a former U.S. Libya-based diplomat.
Salame, however, has not implemented his plan and changed his priorities when he allowed Italy and France to dominate negotiations on the crisis, according to Lawrence.
“Libyan rival parties should be blamed for the situation in Libya, not Salame, as they were unable or unwilling to reach an agreement,” said Lawrence, emphasizing that even elections would not resolve the civil wars and major political issues.
The professor further remarked that Libyans are looking forward to more intervention in the crisis apart from Italy and France, saying that U.S. intervention would reach an optimal solution for Libyan problems and will support U.N. efforts.
He added that the U.S. welcomes Europe’s leading role in Libya, and Libyans “prefer” a U.S. intervention in the Libyan file as it will guarantee the parties’ commitment toward all agreements.
The situation in Libya is very complicated; the civil war erupted in 2014 across Libya along with the other conflicts in the eastern, western and southern regions amid the absence of an agreed upon representation for Libyans.
Libya faces a humanitarian disaster as many Libyans starve to death, but decision makers only tackle economic issues and the embargo problems,
Lawrence said, that many Libyans consider Skhirat Agreement as the only solution for the Libyan crisis, and they only focus on how to amend its articles, particularly Article 8.
Said article stipulates that the Libyan National Army led by General Commander Khalifa Haftar should be subjected to a civil authority. Many wonder about the role and destiny of Haftar if this article is to be put into effect.
Concerning Libya’s economic situation, Lawrence concluded that the transfer of illegal funds has been widespread, causing many armed conflicts.
UN discussions on Libyan reform before reaching a peace agreement is wrong, he added.
