The UN said on Tuesday that Libya’s political, economic and security situation is worsening, as institutional divisions, financial strain and criminality threaten already delayed plans for national elections.
Briefing the UN Security Council, Special Representative Hanna Tetteh said rival political bodies, the House of Representatives and the High Council of State, had failed to make any progress on important elements of a UN-backed political road map despite months of mediation.
“Across the four tracks, the sense of urgency to resolve the political impasse and produce governance and economic reforms is palpable,” Ms Tetteh said, adding that the lack of implementation of agreed mechanisms and unilateral actions had eroded trust and complicated preparations for elections.
She said that Libya’s judiciary, historically viewed as one of the country’s few unified institutions, is now fragmenting, with parallel courts in Tripoli and Benghazi issuing contradictory rulings.
“The situation in Libya is deteriorating on many fronts,” Ms Tetteh said. “Contradictory, parallel judicial decisions put into jeopardy the unity of the legal and judicial systems and weaken the administration of justice.”
She said the divisions risk rendering ineffective what had been the “last mechanism” to ensure accountability and could obstruct the UN-assisted political process.
The UN official urged Libyan leaders to refrain from what she called escalatory measures and to co-operate with an independent mediation committee of Libyan judicial and legal experts working to preserve a unified court system.
Massad Boulos, US senior adviser to the President for Africa, Arab and Middle Eastern Affairs, told the council that Washington would remain engaged diplomatically.
“Under the Trump administration, the United States will be at the forefront of diplomatic efforts to bring unity and lasting peace to Libya,” Mr Boulos said, adding that US officials were convening representatives from eastern and western Libya to encourage military and economic integration.
“Our message to Libyan leaders is clear – it is time to overcome the divisions of the past, and the United States will be there to support you when you take meaningful steps towards unity,” he said.
Beyond political paralysis, Ms Tetteh also highlighted growing security threats, warning that transnational criminal networks had “flourished” in Libya’s fragmented environment.
A recent UN report found Libya has become a conduit for drug trafficking and other illicit trade, abetted by porous borders, weak financial supervision and divided law-enforcement institutions.
“These illicit economies generate substantial revenue, intersect with corruption and informal financial flows, and inevitably undermine state authority, distort the economy and fuel instability,” she said.
Libya has struggled to become stable since the 2011 Nato-backed uprising that toppled longtime leader Muammar Qaddafi, leaving the country split between a UN-recognised government in Tripoli and a rival eastern administration supported by military commander Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar.
The prolonged fragmentation has also enabled widespread human trafficking and abuses against migrants using Libya as a gateway to Europe, according to UN agencies.
A joint report by the UN Support Mission in Libya (Unsmil) and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said systematic violations against migrants, asylum seekers and refugees continue “with impunity”.
The report described an “exploitative model” that preys on migrants’ vulnerability and has become “a brutal and normalised reality”.
