MOSCOW, July 11. /TASS/. Since the end of fighting in 2020, life in Libya has been gradually improving, with roads being unblocked across the country and domestic air service restored, Russian Ambassador to Libya Aydar Aganin said in an interview with TASS.
"Since 2020, when the hostilities in the country came to an end, peaceful development is underway in the country and there is a lot of it. As an illustration, one can name the resumption of air service between the country’s east and west, and the unblocking of most ground routes. So, life is getting better," the envoy noted.
"All of this, of course, should be supported by an appropriate political settlement, 'one rifle,' one budget," he added. Aganin stressed that this is a task for the Libyans themselves and nobody will do it for them. That said, according to him, the global community also should not remain on the sidelines.
"And it’s not on the sidelines, actually. In the fall of 2022, a permanent special representative of the UN secretary general for Libya was appointed, although far from the first one, who hails from Senegal, Abdoulaye Bathily," the Russian ambassador said. "As we see, he is making rather active efforts to advance Libya’s political process." The diplomat pointed out that certain positive results had already emerged from this work and wished the special representative for Libya "success in this difficult endeavor."
Aganin reiterated that, since the regime change in 2011 the Libyan people have endured a multitude of severe trials. "It is even possible to talk about the disappearance of the state and its institutions and, with such chaos, there are always many of those who like to ‘fish in muddy waters.’ Various extremists, terrorists, armed bandits," the envoy explained. "In 2014, a civil war essentially broke out, a real armed standoff of various Libyan ‘camps,’ which led to many victims and much destruction. But this is also already in the past," he concluded.