TUNIS/TRIPOLI: The United Nations Libya adviser Stephanie Williams said on Friday she had invited the parliament and High State Council to each nominate six members for a joint committee on Libya’s constitutional arrangements.
Libya’s political process fell apart in December with the collapse of a scheduled election, with major factions and political bodies pushing opposing plans for the path ahead and backing rival governments.
On Thursday the parliament based in Tobruk in eastern Libya swore in Fathi Bashagha as prime minister but the incumbent Abdulhamid Al-Dbeibah in Tripoli, in the west, has refused to cede power risking a new conflict or territorial division.
The parliament in January approved its own political roadmap that involved putting an amended constitution to a referendum this year followed by elections next year.
Williams also urged factions to preserve security and stability and avoid escalation, adding “the solution to Libya’s crisis does not lie in forming rival administrations and perennial transitions.”
HCS chief Khalid al-Mishri welcomed her offer, saying the body had already "adopted a constitutional basis last September that could be built upon to find a national consensus".
"Yes to elections, no to extensions," he added.
Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the United States voiced concern Friday at the latest developments, including "reports of violence, threats of violence, intimidation and kidnappings".
"Any disagreement on the future of the political process must be resolved without resorting to violence," foreign ministers from the five countries said in a joint statement.
Libyan media outlets reported Friday that foreign minister Hafed Gaddur and the minister for technical education Faraj Khalil had been released.
Gaddur appeared on Libya Al-Ahrar news channel saying: "I'm in good health and I wasn't harmed or mistreated."
Culture minister Saleha al-Toumi's whereabouts were still unclear.
Williams had earlier Friday urged all sides to refrain from "acts of escalation" and pushed politicians to "engage constructively together to move towards elections, for the sake of the 2.8 million Libyans who registered to vote" last year.
She proposed to convene the joint committee on March 15 and to produce a constitutional framework.
Kadhafi had scrapped Libya's constitution after seizing power in a 1969 coup and ruled for four decades through a mixture of a personality cult, tribal alliances, petrodollar patronage and manipulating the military to avoid further coup attempts.
After he was ousted and killed in the NATO-backed uprising, Libyan politicians agreed on a "constitutional declaration".
In 2017, a committee submitted a proposed constitution for parliament to put to a referendum but the vote was never held.
The parliament, which was elected in 2014, is recognized internationally through a 2015 political agreement that also recognized the HCS as a legislative chamber formed from members of a previous parliament.
Although the HCS initially appeared to agree the parliament’s constitutional plans and its installation of Bashagha’s government, it later rejected both.
Rival factions dispute the legitimacy of all the political bodies, including both the parliament and HCS, and both Bashagha’s government and the Dbeibah administration which was installed a year ago through a UN-backed process.
(With Reuters and AFP)
