Libya, EU discuss UN roadmap for elections, irregular migration

By Mohammed Ertima and Rania Abu Shamala

TRIPOLI, Libya/ISTANBUL (AA) – A member of Libya’s Presidency Council held talks on Monday in Tripoli with EU Ambassador Nicola Orlando to discuss ways to support a UN roadmap for the country’s elections and irregular migration.

In a statement, the Presidency Council said Musa al-Koni and Orlando explored EU support for Libyan efforts “to ensure the success of the political process, as the EU serves as a unifying umbrella for Libya that preserves its unity.”

Orlando welcomed a UN roadmap “for achieving stability, given the importance of the Libyan issue, which is at the forefront of EU concerns,” the statement said.

Koni stressed that Libya “will not enjoy stability unless it is under the umbrella of a single government with unified institutions that will ward off the looming specter of division, which threatens to have disastrous repercussions for Libya and its various components.”

Last week, UN Envoy to Libya Hanna Tetteh presented to the UN Security Council a proposed roadmap to hold presidential and parliamentary elections within a maximum period of 18 months.

For years, the UN mission has led efforts to guide Libya toward elections to resolve a conflict between two rival governments, one based in Tripoli in the west and the other in Benghazi in the east.

The long-delayed elections are seen as a potential step toward ending Libya’s political and armed conflicts, as well as the cycle of repeated transitional phases that have persisted since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi’s rule (1969-2011)

The discussions also dealt with the issue of irregular migration, a pressing issue for both EU countries and Libya.

Koni called irregular migration “a complex issue that Libya cannot resolve without fruitful and direct cooperation with the EU.”

On the southern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, Libya is a major transit point for irregular African migrants seeking to reach Europe, thousands of whom are held in Libyan detention centers.

The country has repeatedly complained about Europe abandoning it to face irregular migration alone, stressing that it is merely a “transit country and not a country of origin” for migrants.