UN envoy for Libya calls for compliance with cease-fire

ISTANBUL

A UN official has called on all parties in Libya to comply with a cease-fire agreement signed last year, according to a statement issued Monday by the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL).

Jan Kubis, the UN secretary-general’s special envoy for Libya and head of UNSMIL, held talks with the parties in the country for a week and advised them to implement UN resolutions, including the expulsion of foreign powers and mercenaries.

The statement emphasized that Kubis will continue to support efforts to reach the constitutional-based agreement necessary for holding elections in December 2021.

Delegations of Libya’s warring parties signed a permanent cease-fire agreement last October in Geneva for a truce with immediate effect in all areas of the country.

During his visit to Libya, Kubis met with the president of the Tobruk House of Representatives, Aguila Saleh, on Feb. 17 and the leader of the illegitimate armed forces in the east of the country, Khalifa Haftar, on Feb. 19.

In his statement last Saturday, Kubis had said that he would continue to support Mohammad Younes Menfi, who was elected president of Libya’s interim government, and Abdul Hamid Mohammed Dbeibah the prime minister.

Dbeibah, who will serve as prime minister until presidential and parliamentary elections on Dec. 24, is expected to form his cabinet by Feb. 26 at the latest and present it to the House of Representatives to receive a vote of confidence.