Libya: Progress remains stalled by institutional deadlock - UNSMIL Briefing | United Nations

Four months after unveiling a UN-backed political roadmap for Libya, progress remains stalled by institutional deadlock and mistrust, UN Libya envoy Hanna Serwaa Tetteh told the Security Council.

Briefing the Council in New York, Tetteh said efforts to advance electoral preparations had failed to meet agreed timelines, despite repeated engagement with Libya’s rival political bodies. She recalled that committees from the House of Representatives and the High Council of State had agreed in October to reconstitute the High National Elections Commission within two weeks, but “despite multiple efforts and engagements with these institutions, this did not happen.”

Tetteh said a subsequent agreement signed on 28 November, under UN auspices, established a mechanism to select new HNEC board members, with a deadline of 11 December to finalize the process. That deadline also passed without action.

“It is my assessment that the delays are a manifestation of the lack of trust between the two institutions, their own internal divisions, and the inability to overcome their differences and agree on the way forward to resolve the current impasse,” Tetteh said, adding that she recognized “the serious efforts by some members to advance these two processes.”

Despite the setbacks, Tetteh highlighted the launch of a new UN-facilitated dialogue process held inside Libya earlier this month, describing it as a key component of the roadmap.

“On 14 and 15 December, UNSMIL launched the inaugural meeting of the Structured Dialogue which is one of the three core components of the Roadmap,” she said. “This is the first process of this magnitude to be held on Libyan soil.”

She said participants included representatives from sovereign institutions, civil society, political parties, academia and cultural and linguistic groups, alongside other state institutions.