UN Security Council welcomes Libya gov’t formation

ISTANBUL (AA) – The United Nations Security Council has welcomed the formation of a national unity government in Libya headed by Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh.

In a statement early Saturday, the Council stressed on the importance of the "unification of Libya's institutions, as set out in the roadmap agreed by the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum, held in Tunis, in November 2020”.

The statement called on the Libyan government to take necessary preparations for setting Libya for "free and fair national presidential and parliamentary elections on 24 December 2021."

The Security Council also called for the withdrawal of all foreign forces and mercenaries from Libya. "The Security Council calls on all parties to implement the cease-fire agreement in full and urges Member States to respect and support the full implementation of the agreement," the statement read.

In a majority vote, Libya's parliament granted a vote of confidence to Dbeibeh’s new unity government on Wednesday with 132 votes of the 133 lawmakers who attended the session.

Libyans hope it will end years of civil war that have engulfed the country since the ouster and killing of strongman Muammar al-Qaddafi in 2011.

The war was exacerbated when warlord Khalifa Haftar, supported by several countries including the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Russia, and France, carried out a military onslaught to topple the Tripoli-based internationally recognized government for control of the North African country.

*Ahmed Asmar contributed to this report from Ankara