The head of Libya’s government of national unity (GNA) recognized by the international community, Fayez Al-Sarraj, on Sunday announced a political initiative meant to sort out the crisis, which has been plaguing the country since 2011.
“Starting from my national responsibility and despite the brutal offensive that we will continue to push back (…) and overcome, I present today a political initiative to find a way out of the crisis,” Al-Sarraj said in a speech broadcast by the Tripoli-based “Libya al-Wataniya” TV channel.
This plan provides for elections before the end of the year, to get the country out of a deep crisis that continues, AL-Sarraj said adding that the offensive launched last April by the forces of Marshal Khalifa Haftar, based in east of the country, to seize the capital, was “doomed to fail.”
“In coordination with the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), Mr. Sarraj proposed the holding of a “Libyan Forum,” which will bring together “national forces politically and socially influential, and partisan of a peaceful and democratic solution.”
This initiative also provides for the simultaneous holding of “presidential and legislative elections before the end of 2019,” he said.
He declared he was “confident” that his forces are able to “repel the aggressor and send him back to where he came from … Victory is our ally thanks to God.”
Hostilities between the GNA forces and the Libyan National Army (NLA), which has been self-proclaimed since April 4, have resulted in over 653 deaths, including 41 civilians, as well as more than 3,500 casualties, including around 100 civilians, according to the last reports from the World Health Organization (WHO).
HA/fss/abj/APA