Libya: Briefing and Consultations
Tomorrow morning (20 August), the Security Council will hold an open briefing, followed by closed consultations, on the situation in Libya. Deputy Special Representative and Political Officer in Charge of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) Stephanie Koury will brief on the latest political, security, and humanitarian developments in the country. The chair of the 1970 Libya Sanctions Committee, Ambassador Kazuyuki Yamazaki (Japan), will brief on the committee’s activities. Sierra Leone, the Council’s August president and one of the signatories to the Shared Commitments on Women, Peace and Security (WPS), has chosen to have a WPS focus for tomorrow’s meeting.
Council members that have signed on to the Shared Commitments on WPS—Ecuador, France, Guyana, Japan, Malta, the Republic of Korea (ROK), Sierra Leone, Slovenia, Switzerland, the UK, and the US—are scheduled to read a joint statement ahead of the meeting. The statement is expected to underscore the importance of women’s participation in Libya’s political processes.
Koury is likely to update Council members on the continuing political impasse in Libya between the UN-recognised Government of National Unity (GNU), based in Tripoli and led by Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Mohammed Dbeibah with advisory support from the High State Council (HSC), and the eastern-based Government of National Stability (GNS), led by Prime Minister Osama Hamad and backed by the House of Representatives (HoR) and the self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) under the command of General Khalifa Haftar. According to the Secretary-General’s latest report on UNSMIL, dated 8 August and covering developments since 9 April, the parties have not achieved any progress in resolving disagreements about proposed electoral legislation that would enable national elections to be held and reconcile the country’s divided government. The main point of contention concerns the formation of a unified interim government to organise the elections, a move favoured by the GNS and HoR but opposed by the GNU and some segments of the HSC.
On 10 March, the heads of the HoR, the HSC, and the Presidential Council—which was established under the 2015 Libyan Political Agreement to serve as the country’s head of state—met in Cairo under the auspices of the League of Arab States (LAS). In a joint statement following the meeting, the three leaders said that they had agreed on the need to establish a unified interim government and had decided to set up a technical committee “within a specific period of time” to resolve other outstanding electoral issues. The LAS invited the three leaders to a follow-up meeting to be held on 15 July. HSC President Mohamed Takala declined this invitation, however, indicating in a letter to the LAS that the HSC would suspend its dialogue with the HoR following the latter’s unilateral approval on 10 July of an additional budgetary allocation to supplement the annual budget that the bodies had adopted earlier this year.
On 18 July, over 100 members of the HoR and HSC met independently in Cairo, outside LAS auspices. In an outcome statement, the lawmakers reportedly agreed on the need to establish a unified interim government, to hold elections according to electoral laws previously issued by the HoR, and to develop a joint electoral roadmap on this basis. On 28 July, HoR Speaker Aguila Saleh announced the opening of nominations for the post of prime minister to lead a new interim government, urging qualified individuals to submit their candidacies within two weeks and inviting HoR and HSC members to endorse competent candidates. The HSC reportedly opposed this move, reiterating its commitment to the general framework outlined in the 10 March joint statement issued under the LAS format, while claiming that specific mechanisms to implement it had not been agreed.
The HSC’s positioning on this issue partly reflects its own internal fissures and divergent views between Takala—who is considered a close ally of Dbeibah—and other political factions. On 6 August, the body held leadership elections, which were contested by Takala and former HSC president Khalid Al-Mishri, who held the post between 2018 and 2023. In a narrow contest, Al-Mishri claimed the most votes, but Takala disputed the results due to alleged ballot irregularities and called for a second round of voting. On 12 August, Al-Mishri announced that he had assumed the presidency and urged Takala to address his complaints through the judiciary.
Meanwhile, the stand-off between the rival governments intensified on 13 August, when the HoR voted to end the GNU’s term and designate the GNS as the country’s “legitimate government” until a unified interim government is appointed. The HoR also named Saleh the commander-in-chief of Libya’s armed forces in place of the Presidential Council, which had been granted this authority under Article 8 of the Libyan Political Agreement. In a 14 August statement, UNSMIL noted that it is following with concern “the recent unilateral acts” by Libyan political actors, which it said “increase tension, undermine trust and further entrench institutional divisions and discord”.
The Central Bank of Libya (CBL)—the country’s sole depository for state revenues, which services both governments—has been subject to tensions in recent weeks. Yesterday (18 August), the bank suspended its operations, citing the abduction of one of its officials by an “unidentified party”. The bank re-opened today (19 August) after the official was released. A week prior to this incident, local media outlets reported that armed men had besieged the CBL, reportedly seeking to force the resignation of the bank’s governor, Sadiq al-Kabir. Yesterday, the Presidential Council issued a decree dismissing al-Kabir, a move that some analysts said lacks any legal basis and risks contributing to further disorder.
Regarding the country’s upcoming municipal elections—which are expected to take place later this year, although a date has yet to be set—the Secretary-General’s report notes that Libya’s High National Elections Commission (HNEC) completed the voter registration process for 60 out of the 106 municipal administrations whose mandates have expired or are expiring this year. This first phase of the registration process, which the HNEC conducted between 8 June and 13 July, registered a total of 209,496 voters, of which approximately 30 percent were women. In a 16 July statement, UNSMIL congratulated the HNEC for its achievement in “challenging circumstances”, urged Libyan authorities to provide the necessary resources to facilitate the next steps in the municipal electoral process, and encouraged them to continue efforts to increase the participation of women. According to the Secretary-General’s report, preparations to launch the nomination process for candidates were expected to begin this month.
The Informal Expert Group (IEG) on WPS discussed women’s participation in political processes in Libya during a 25 June meeting on the situation in the country. A summary of the meeting—issued on 5 August by Sierra Leone and Switzerland as the IEG co-chairs, together with the UK (the penholder on WPS)—noted that women remain underrepresented in key decision-making bodies in Libya. It added that women’s voter registration for the upcoming municipal elections remains low amid reports of some in-person registration centres in eastern and southern Libya being prevented from opening. Citing research conducted by UN Women in 2022—which shows that 60 percent of women in politics in Libya have experienced some form of violence during their candidacy or term in office—the summary emphasises the need to “protect politically active and publicly engaged women, including online and on social media”.
Tomorrow, Koury is also expected to update the Council on Libya’s security situation. On 8 August, the GNU put its armed forces on alert following reports that the LNA was mobilising toward Ghadames, a western town under GNU control close to the border with Tunisia and Algeria. The forces participating in the LNA operation, which is led by Saddam Haftar, General Haftar’s son, reportedly said that the operation’s purpose is to “monitor the border strip with neighbouring countries” in order to enhance “national security and stability in these strategic areas”. On 9 August, UNSMIL issued a statement expressing concern about the mobilisation of forces and urging all parties to exercise restraint and to avoid any actions that might violate the 2020 ceasefire agreement.
At tomorrow’s meeting, Council members are expected to reiterate their calls on Libyan stakeholders to engage in negotiations in good faith to achieve consensus on legislation to enable the holding of elections. Some members may caution against unilateral initiatives and competing dialogue tracks that could further exacerbate tensions and complicate the negotiation process. Council members are also likely to express concern about the recent mobilisation of GNU and LNA forces and echo UNSMIL’s call for all parties to exercise restraint to avoid further escalation. Members may also underscore the importance of the full, equal, and meaningful participation of women in Libya’s political processes and call on Libyan authorities to step up efforts to ensure their safety in a context where politically active women commonly face threats and violence.
