Libyan Bloc Calls For Holding Election in December

The Reviving Libya political bloc, headed by Libyan political figure Aref Al Nayed, called on Monday for elections by next December, demanding that Sirte be the state sovereign institutions’ capital. 

In a letter sent to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, Nayed said that “After nearly a decade of relentless wars, Libya’s social fabric has been tarnished, and its inter-regional relations are mired in suspicion and distrust.”

Nayed warned of extremists controlling the Libyan arena, noting that “After 2011, Islamists have been able to control the vary joints of the State and the capital Tripoli.”

He pointed out that the Islamists utilized the highly centralized system of the former regime of late President Muammar Gaddafi to scavenge the total revenues of the Libyan people, for the exclusive benefit of Islamism internationally.

“Today, despite the truce and them withdrawal rapidly made by the Libyan National Army of the duly elected House of Representatives, the Government of National Accord (GNA) Turkish-supported forces are insistent on advancing to the central city of Sirte,” the bloc’s statement read.

Libya Upcoming Elections

The statement added that the city of Sirte can be a ‘solution” rather than a “problem.”

The bloc proposed a number of suggestions to resolve the Libyan dilemma as follows: 

Avoid the risk of a regional highly-likely clash between the two largest armies in our region: the armies of Turkey and Egypt, by immediately FREEZING current lines.

Creating a positive horizon of expectations by going back to the final commitments of the Paris Conference, and announcing December 31, 2020, as the definitive date of Presidential AND Parliamentarian direct elections, based on the already existing February Committee Recommendations and Law Number 5 (2014).

Getting written commitments from all Actors to: A. Protect their own areas, B. Protect and facilitate elections in their own areas, and C. allow the implementation of election results in their own area.

Declaring Sirte a UN-monitored Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).

All forces of all sides withdraw so as to leave a 300 km radius in a full circle around Sirte.

Deploy into Sirte, a hybrid police force made up of pan-Libyan policemen, with official numbers predating 2011, and with police monitors from Europe, Canada, Australia inserted within it.

Create a Sirte Municipal Council made up of its notables from all its tribes and headed by technocrats born and raised in Sirte.

Create a ‘Green Zone’ around the Wagadugu Complex in Sirte, and move into it the following institutions:

• Central Bank of Libya,
• National Oil Company,
• Libya Investment Authority, and
• Telco Holding Company.
• National Elections Commission.

Prosecutor General and Supreme Court.

Change the Boards and Leadership of all of the above institutions in ways that ensure representation from all three regions, and that enshrines decisions-by-consensus and a system of co-signatories.

Work very hard with the International Community and local Libyan communities to actually deliver direct, transparent, fair, and well-monitored Parliamentarian and Presidential Elections prior to December 31, 2020, as promised at the Paris Conference (which had promised elections by December 31, 2018), and as enshrined in all subsequent documents, including the outputs of the Berlin Conference.

Libyan Sirte Situation 

The Open Letter said that transforming Sirte into a Demilitarized Zone would allow for

• A broad demarcation line between GNA and HoR/LNA.
• International and combined national oversight on national revenues and expenditures.
• Joint oversight on Oil/Gas management and export.
• Joint oversight on Libya’s sovereign funds.
• Joint oversight on the vital Telco Sector.
• An independent and secure National Elections Commission that can oversee Presidential, Parliamentarian, and Municipal elections.
• An independent and apolitical justice system.

“A Sirte-DMZ can also eventually create a Washington-DC like capital that does not belong to any of the three historical provinces: Tripolitania, Cyrenaica, and Fezzan,” the statement added.