Brussels, 14/12/2015 (Agence Europe) - During an international conference on Libya that was held in Rome on Sunday 13 December, 17 national delegations and 3 regional organisations - including the EU and UN - urged the Libyan parties to sign the political agreement providing for the formation of a national unity government.
“We urge all the political actors to sign this definitive agreement on 16 December, and we call on all the Libyans to unite behind this Libyan political agreement and the government of national unity”, the Rome conference participants said in a joint statement. They therefore hailed the announcement on Friday 11 December that the members of the Libyan political dialogue would sign the agreement in Morocco on 16 December.
The delegations will support the government of national unity as the only legitimate government of Libya. “We will stop official contact with the individuals who claim to be members of the institutions that are not validated by the political agreement”, they warned. Among the legitimate institutions, the conference participants mentioned the national economic institutions - including the central bank of Libya, the national oil company and the Libyan investment authority - which should operate under the aegis of a government of national unity responsible for preserving and protecting Libya's resources for the sole benefit of all its inhabitants.
The Rome conference participants stated that the formation of a national unity government based in Tripoli was “urgent in order to provide Libya with the means for maintaining governance, and promoting stability and economic development”. Such a government is “essential” for addressing - along with the international community - the critical humanitarian, economic and security challenges.
France's secretary of state for European affairs, Harlem Désir, said on arriving in Brussels that such a Libyan government is “absolutely crucial because in the security and political vacuum that has been created over recent years, it is Islamic State (IS) that is currently prospering”.
“We express our determination, in collaboration with the government of national unity, to conquer the members of IS in Libya and to remove the threat that they represent for Libyan and international security”, the Rome conference participants warned in their statement. They also believed that those responsible for the violence and those who hinder and compromise the Libyan democratic transition should be held strictly liable. The delegations therefore called on all the parties “to accept an overall ceasefire that is immediate in all parts of Libya”.
The Rome conference participants also rejected any foreign interference in Libya. They hailed the efforts of the neighbouring countries, the African Union, the League of Arab States and the EU in contributing to the construction of a safe Libya that is democratic, prosperous and united, where the inhabitants are reconciled and where the authority of the state and the rule of law are restored. “This is a Libyan-led process” and one that is in their hands, “but the important things is that the international community - and the EU in particular - supports it in a united, coherent and coordinated way, with everything we have available”, said High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini on Monday 14 December.
The delegations in Rome said they were ready to support the implementation of the political agreement and were strongly committed to providing the government of national unity with political, technical, economic and security support, and with assistance against terrorism.
During their meeting in Brussels, the EU member state foreign affairs ministers asked the European institutions to prepare the initial measures of the €100 million aid package so that the funding might be operational from the first day of the new government. According to Mogherini, these measures reportedly concern the humanitarian domain, and aid to municipal and local services. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)