In an interview with a Swiss journalist: Stephanie Williams says Libyans have realized that continuing division and conflict will eventually lead them to dead end.

Geneva, 4 November 2021 (Lana) Former Acting Head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya Stephanie Williams said that the political parties in Libya have realized that continued division and conflict would eventually lead them to a dead end, which led them to sign a ceasefire agreement last year, as they arrived at the fact that continuing conflict would cause the country to lose its sovereignty through increased scale of foreign interventions in Libya.

In an interview with the Swiss newspaper Geneva Solutions, Williams revealed that the military representatives in Libya were ready from the beginning to hold direct talks, at the end of which they asked to meet on their own without mediation.

 Williams added that, through virtual meetings, she was able to create three sub-tracks for political dialogue, the first for women, the second for youth, and the third for municipal councils, although it was not possible to invite all mayors of municipalities for political dialogue.

 Williams noted that the most prominent issues that the Libyans wanted to address were the economy, national reconciliation, accountability and transparency, in addition to the equitable distribution of resources and the dismantling of armed groups, which was evident through the immediate vote, and 80% of those surveyed supported holding national elections on the 24th of December.

 Williams reiterated that the solution in Libya is in the hands of the Libyans themselves, without prejudicing the role of mediation, which she said important to bring different points of view closer.

Williams stressed the need to maintain the ceasefire in Libya, which can be seen in the basic desire of Libyans to act, to end their crises, considering that the use of oil as a weapon during the conflict period has created great difficulties, which necessitated an international audit under the supervision of the United Nations for the two branches of the Central Bank in Libya, which was recently completed, and its recommendations are being implemented, which is very important because it provides transparency about how to manage and distribute state resources, as she put it.

=Lana=