MOSCOW, September 27. /TASS/. The absence of coordinated engagement by the international community in seeking solutions to the situation in Libya could spark a new crisis in the Mediterranean region and other African countries, UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for Libya and Head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) Hanna Tetteh said in an interview with TASS.

Earlier this year, the African Union held its first high-level Peace and Security Council meeting on the Libyan issue since 2011, during which Tetteh made statements regarding the situation in the country. Based on consultations with the Libyan population, the UN mission proposed a roadmap, which subsequently drew criticism - including calls to close the UN office in Libya.

"Many within Libya believe that maybe allowing the status quo to remain is perhaps the best the country could hope for. I think that for the international community not to engage with Libya, and creating a situation where the country effectively falls apart or divides into different autonomous regions, would essentially not just create challenges for the country of Libya itself, but also for the broader African and Mediterranean region," she told TASS.

Addressing the critical statements, Tetteh clarified that, contrary to reports in the media, the authorities in eastern Libya welcomed the roadmap and its presentation at the UN Security Council.

"The criticisms you mentioned were made back in June in a different context. Since that time, we've been engaging them, and I had a positive meeting with the LNA General Commander Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar and his deputy, Saddam, on 8 September. They both assured me of their willingness to push for the successful implementation of the UNSMIL roadmap," she said.

Striving toward the goal

The UN Special Representative for Libya highlighted a widespread perception in society that the objective may be unattainable, given that the Organization "has been engaging in Libya for about 14 years now, and the different efforts at state building have not yielded the desired outcome."

"But that doesn't mean we should stop trying, and we should look at what happens if we don't do it. Many of the actors in Libya, in the east and the west, believe that allowing the two sides to remain as is, is probably the way to go. But it still goes back to the issue of the implications of Libya's divided institutions on the country itself, on its ability to maximize its own resources, on its ability to deal with its security challenges, and be able to provide a better quality of living for its own citizens," she added.

According to her, a strong Libya is a critically important factor in addressing numerous pressing issues, for example "illegal migration, human trafficking, and the spread of terrorism." She added, "So, the governance institutions as currently situated in Libya, and not trying to make an effort to bring them together, not trying to make an effort to strengthen them, and believing that that would be the best way to go forward, I think is short-sighted, because it doesn't look at the possible broader ramifications of that."

"I think that it's important for us not to just dismiss everything that has happened, but to do a more objective evaluation. What has worked? What hasn't worked? Why hasn't it worked? And to learn from that, and making sure we don't do the same things again, if we are going to try to now have a roadmap that leads us towards elections and to positive outcomes," Tetteh concluded.

Since the overthrow and killing of the country’s leader, Muammar Gaddafi, in 2011, Libya has ceased to function as a unified state. In recent years, there has been ongoing confrontation between the authorities in Tripoli in the west of the country and the eastern authorities backed by the Libyan National Army. In 2021, the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum in Geneva, under the auspices of the UN, elected a transitional executive authority to serve until nationwide elections, which have not yet been held. Currently, two mutually unrecognized governments operate in Libya.