World powers meet to push for elections in politically fragile Libya

A man shows his voter card inside the polling station in Tripoli, Libya. Reuters

World powers meet in France on Friday to push for elections in Libya by year-end and endorse efforts to remove foreign forces from the oil-producing nation despite growing political wrangling that threatens to unravel a year-long peace process.

Libya's election, targeted for December 24, was set through a UN-backed road map adopted last year that also established an interim unity government to take over from rival administrations in east and west that had been warring for years.

A Libyan man registers to vote inside a polling station in Tripoli, on November 8, 2021. AFP

The process is seen as a chance to end the decade of instability and warfare following the 2011 Nato-backed uprising that ousted Muammar Qaddafi and has since drawn in regional powers in a threat to wider Mediterranean stability.

With disputes on the legal basis for the election, major factions on both sides may reject the vote, potentially causing another violent schism.

A French presidential official told reporters at a briefing before the meeting that while the elections were close at hand, the situation remained fragile. There were some actors ready to seize on any ambiguities to advance their own interests, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“They are obviously waiting to ambush and try to derail the electoral process,” the official said.

State Minister for Foreign Affairs of Qatar, Soltan bin Saad Al-Muraikhi, Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Ahmed Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Sabah, along with Libyan Foreign Minister Najla al-Mangoush, and the Libyan Prime Minister Abdul-Hamid Dbeibah take part in the Tripoli Summit. EPA

A final communique may warn potential spoilers that they could face sanctions, diplomats said.

Almost 30 countries and organisations will be in Paris, including Libya's neighbours, and countries that have been split over the conflict.

Despite Paris initially aiming to have the Turkish and Russian heads of state attending, both Ankara and Moscow have sent lower level representatives, perhaps demonstrating the complications with removing foreign forces.

The former Tripoli government had support from Turkish regular forces in Libya as advisers, and from allied Syrian fighters, the Turkish government has said.

Diplomats said Turkey was unlikely to act before there were departures from the east.

The eastern-based Libyan National Army, which was supported in the war by Moscow, said on Thursday it had agreed to repatriate 300 foreign mercenaries from their area of control after a request from France.