Salame Fears Libya’s Battles Could Turn into ‘Regional War’
Arab World
Cairo - Jamal Jawhar
The UN envoy for Libya has defended his mission against criticism and warned that the country’s crisis could turn into a "regional war." “This is not true,” said Ghassan Salame on Friday when asked about accusations that the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) has intervened in determining the names of the representatives in the commission that is holding talks in Geneva. UNSMIL has come under attack by almost all political parties in eastern and western Libya for allegedly choosing the members of the two rival parliaments to attend the Geneva talks. “There was one single mechanism that was applied to both parties – both the party that belongs to Tripoli and the one that belongs to Tobruk. That mechanism depended on the fact that members of each electoral district would meet, together in a special place, and vote for the representatives in the commission,” he said. “That happened in the Higher State Council with the presence of four representatives of UNSMIL. They were present there to make sure that no exclusion whatsoever would happen. The same thing happened in the House of Representatives. Therefore all 13 districts, with their freedom, chose their representatives here in Geneva,” said Salame. “The country, in the past 24 hours, has witnessed a very serious violation of the truce,” he told reporters. “In fact, it could have been almost the breakdown of that truce.” “The Libyans keep asking me don’t waste any time,” he said, adding he was planning to continue talks next month. Salame lauded the personalities who remained in Geneva to attend the talks. “I would like to say that, in particular, the women who we had invited decided to stay, probably because they are more sensible to the fact that no time should be wasted.” He said a number of countries have been intervening in Libya’s war, and that he didn’t get enough support from the UN Security Council members. “I need much more support,” he stressed.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2155336/salame-fears-libya%E2%80%99s-battles-could-turn-%E2%80%98regional-war%E2%80%99
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