By Libya Herald staff.
27 January 2015:
The political delegates to the Geneva dialogue talks have agreed that the basic format of a . . .[restrict]government of national unity should be announced in two weeks’ time, according to one of the delegates at today’s session.
In addition, the delegate (who did not want to be named) told the Libya Herald, the government would need to have adequate security to ensure it could operate. This might be provided by local Libya forces or by approved UN forces, he said.
He added that today’s session had also agreed that the new government should be given an agenda on a number of specific issues, such as security, the economy and healthcare.
In its statement on the two days of the political delegates’ talks which ended this afternoon, the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) said that participants had discussed the formation of a national unity government and its programme. They had also looked at how it “could benefit from UNSMIL support to carry out its tasks and the guarantees the international community could provide in this regard and in dealing with anyone who obstructs the political and security process”.
UNSMIL said that as part of the necessary security, the delegates had agreed on a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire along with an “effective monitoring mechanism”. They also agreed on arrangements for the withdrawal of armed groups from towns and cities, particularly Tripoli, so as to enable the new government to work “in a conducive and stable environment”.
Further details of the confidence building measures to safeguard the country’s unity and alleviate the suffering of the civilian population agreed by the same delegates at their meeting in Geneva nearly a fortnight ago were discussed, UNSMIL said.
In its statement, UNSMIL added that the delegates were unanimous in condemning terrorism and had “strongly condemned” today’s attack on the Corinthia Hotel in Tripoli. “They emphasised that such attacks would not derail the political process”, the statement read. If fact, it said, they believed it would “create an incentive for all the Libyan sides to forge ahead with efforts to stabilise the country and prevent the terrorists from taking advantage of the security chaos to consolidate their presence in Libya”.
Delegates are reported to have spent some time looking at Facebook to get the latest on the attack. They were later informed about what was happening by the Mayor of Tripoli, Al-Mahdi Al-Harati who arrived in the Swiss city today. He is taking part, along with representatives from numerous other Libyan municipal councils, in the next round which begins tomorrow. [/restrict]
