The Foreign Affairs Ministry is following closely what is happening at the United Nations Headquarters in Geneva where a dialogue meeting of Libyan parties, hosted by the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) convened on Wednesday. This political dialogue between parties follows that initiated in Ghadames last September.
The Ministry welcomes and encourages all parties participating in the ongoing discussions to demonstrate maturity, understanding and leadership. The Ministry underlines the importance of the ongoing talks in Geneva that include different facets of Libyan society, namely, the political, social, economic, and civil society in general. Other representatives of political parties, militia groups and tribal leaders will hopefully join the talks at a later stage. The Ministry cannot but express its congratulations to the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General, Bernardino Leon, for his success in brokering these talks that include also Misurata Municipality, as well as those of Zawia and Gharyan who are key actors in the crisis.
The Ministry augurs that the talks in Geneva will produce proposals that could eventually contribute towards the cessation of all fighting and violence in Libya that are leading to more terrorist activity as well as to an economic and financial meltdown. The Ministry reiterates that there is no alternative other than a political settlement acceptable to all Libyans that include the establishment of a national unity government where all Libyans will be represented.
The Ministry continues to believe that Libya's problems have to be settled by Libyans themselves. It is within this context that the Ministry exhorts those parties who have yet to decide to participate in the talks in Geneva to lay down their arms, put aside all differences, consider first and foremost the supreme interests of their country and work towards a political compromise that would alleviate the current humanitarian suffering, and bring back peace, stability and prosperity to the Libyan citizens.