UN envoy Salame hold surprise visit to Libya

The head of the United Nations mission to Libya, Ghassan Salame, began a surprise visit to the capital Tripoli on Monday, during which he would travel to several other cities to hold consultations on what he called “the best way to implement the UN plan for Libya.”

Salame tackled the amendments to the political agreement concluded in the resort of Skhirat, Morocco about two years ago, with the head of the Supreme Council of the State, Abdul Rahman al-Suhaili, and the Chairman of Parliament’s Dialogue Committee, Abdul Salam Nassieh.

In a statement, the UN envoy said he discussed with the head of the Presidential Council of the National Reconciliation Government, Fayez Al-Sarraj, his briefing to the Security Council and the implementation of the plan of action, as well as the preparations for the upcoming elections in Libya.

In a separate statement, Sarraj said the meeting “dealt with the latest developments in the path of a political solution in accordance with the roadmap put forward by the UN envoy, which paves the way for the upcoming elections.”

He underlined “the need to begin the registration of voters as soon as possible,” reiterating his “commitment to work with the United Nations and support efforts to reach reconciliation and peace in Libya, achieve stability and security and contribute to the establishment of state institutions and the rule of law.”

Meanwhile, the Security Council will hold on Tuesday an urgent meeting on human trafficking in Libya upon the request of France.

Francois Delattre, the French ambassador to the United Nations, said on Monday that the purpose of the meeting was to make the Security Council aware of the tragedy and to announce the council’s unified opposition to such despicable practices.

The Italian ambassador to the United Nations said the meeting was agreed on after a telephone conversation between the foreign ministers of Italy and France on Saturday.

EU High Representative for Security and Foreign Policy Federica Mogherini held talks on Monday with the Director-General of the International Organization for Migration on bilateral cooperation, especially in Libya, as well as the tragic situation of migrants there.

Mogherini revealed that the European Union was exerting pressure on the Libyan authorities to facilitate the entry of international teams to immigration detention centers, explaining that the EU was considering how to take joint action with the African Union to stop what she described as “unacceptable violations in Libya.”