UN road map faces deadlock after rejected by Libyan Higher Council of State

Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-23 17:13:44|Editor: liuxin
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TRIPOLI, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Libyan UN-sponsored political agreement faced another deadlock after the Higher Council of State in the capital Tripoli rejected a proposal by the UN envoy to amend the agreement.

The UN Mission has recently sponsored dialogue meetings in Tunisia between representatives of the Libyan political parties in order to amend the political agreement, the first stage of an action plan proposed by the UN Envoy to Libya, Ghassan Salame, in September that aims at ending the political division in the country.

The eastern-based parliament on Tuesday approved the UN-proposed amendment, however, the rival Higher Council of State rejected the amendment, announcing possibility of holding elections within six months to appoint a government of technocrats.

"The statement of the Higher Council of State is a new obstacle to the Libyan political agreement, after Libyans were glad that the UN-proposed road map was accepted by all parties of the conflict," Libyan political analyst Majid Addawi told Xinhua.

"Negotiations to amend the political agreement have reached the stage of proposing a unified format by the UN Mission. This means the end of the first phase of the UN-proposed action plan. However, the rejection of the Higher Council of State will return the country to the first stage," Addawi added.

Faraj Al-Warfalli, a Libyan professor of political science, said that the suggestion of the Council to hold early elections in six months is "very frightening and dangerous."

"This means another division in the country. There would be three governments in the country instead of two - the first is the eastern government, the second is the government of national accord in Tripoli, and the third is the government that the Higher Council of State would elect," al-Warfalli added.

The UN-proposed formula states that the Presidential Council and the government will continue to perform their functions until presidential elections are held, and that the Presidential Council shall consist of only one president and two deputies.

Salame in September proposed an action plan for Libya that includes amendment of the current UN-sponsored political agreement, holding a UN-sponsored national conference for all of Libya's political factions, adopting a constitution and finally the election of a president and a parliament.

Following the uprising of 2011 that toppled former leader Gaddafi's regime, Libya has been struggling to make a democratic transition amid political division, insecurity and chaos.

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