Libya’s High Council of State rejected the 30 August election agreement on 5 October, UN envoy tells Security Council

Hanna Serwaa Tetteh, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), told the Security Council today that Libya has made political progress toward elections but that its economic and security situation demands urgent action. She briefed the Council ahead of the Mission’s mandate renewal on 31 October. UNSMIL is a UN mission, so the briefer was describing a process her own organization facilitates.

Tetteh said an Agreement signed in Tripoli on 30 August by the parties to the “Smaller Convening”, also known as the 4+4 committee, broke a prolonged political deadlock after four months of deliberation. She said it establishes a pathway to legislative and presidential elections under a unified executive authority within 24 months. UN News, the UN’s own news service, reported in French that the text also provides for reconstituting the board of the High National Electoral Commission. UN News said the Government of National Unity, the Libyan National Army and the House of Representatives backed the Agreement.

The High Council of State rejected it on 5 October. UN News reported that the body contested the procedures followed and the respect shown for the prerogatives of the institutions concerned. Tetteh said some of its members had said they were willing to continue talks. She told the Council: “Libya cannot afford to allow spoilers to obstruct the process”. She called on the Council to “hold spoilers accountable”. Her next briefing, she said, will update the Council on efforts to address the rejection.

Tetteh reported that inflation is above 14 per cent, food prices are rising and the dinar is weaker. She said strikes and protests occurred throughout September. She said an estimated 30 to 50 per cent of fuel imports between January and September, worth between $2.4 and $4.4 billion, were lost to smuggling. Disruptions to oil infrastructure in September cost 1 million barrels of production, she said, and attacks on infrastructure may constitute grounds for measures under relevant Security Council resolutions.

On human rights, Tetteh said 58 people convicted of terrorism-related offences were executed in Benghazi in the last two months. She called for further executions to be suspended. She also warned of rising misinformation and hate speech aimed at refugees and migrants.

Council members responded. The United Kingdom, which holds the pen on Libya, said commitments on paper need to be turned into action. Liberia, speaking also for the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Somalia, said the 2.8 million registered voters UNSMIL recorded in April deserve a credible chance to vote. Its representative said: “A timetable must create urgency, never become permission for further delay.”

The delegate of the United States said: “Let’s be clear”, adding that “this Council must hold persons obstructing or undermining progress towards elections to account, including by subjecting them to sanctions.” She said US diplomacy had helped produce Libya’s first unified national budget in 13 years. France urged joint military exercises between the forces of west and east and the withdrawal of foreign mercenaries and forces. Greece, Council President for October, said a stable Libya matters for regional peace and security.

Libya’s representative said parallel tracks without national consensus carry risks and pointed to the High Council of State’s rejection. He said: “Oil is not a bargaining chip; it is not for any party or group to own.” He asked how the divergences would be addressed.

The sources do not say whether the Council will take up sanctions or what the renewed mandate will contain.