The former UN envoy to Libya, Ghassan Salame, presented a set of points and solutions to the Libyan crisis during an interview with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Salame stressed that many foreign powers covet Libya’s huge oil reserves, its distinguished geographical location, and its long coastline on the Mediterranean Sea.
He pointed out that these foreign countries are only interested in Libya and not the Libyan people, denying the existence of any proxy war in Libya, stressing that it is a war controlled by foreign powers remotely, and that the only way out of the current crisis is to reach a consensus between the warring Libyan parties and restructure the Presidency Council for a year then hold parliamentary elections.
The Lebanese academic expected that the current situation in Libya will continue to deteriorate for some time due to the failure to reach an appropriate plan for a permanent solution, and he also called on the Libyan parties to abide by United Nations Resolution 2510 and therefore urged respect for the ceasefire throughout the country as well as the enforcement of the arms embargo on Libya.
Regarding the announcement of the resignation of the Head of the Presidency Council, Fayez al-Sarraj, from the Government of National Accord, Salame said that the latter is really exhausted and tired of the task of prime minister, adding that the United Nations does not have a mechanism to choose a successor to Al-Sarraj, calling on the Libyans to reduce the number of presidency council members to three.
The former head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya affirmed that the security and maritime agreements signed by the officials of the Government of National Accord with Turkey are very important to the Turks, saying: “They fought alongside the GNA in exchange for such agreements and will never abandon them.”
On the US position on the Libyan crisis, Salame said that the United States is only concerned with Libyan oil and fighting terrorism.
