UNOFFICIAL TRANSLATION

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I would like to thank Ms. Rosemary DiCarlo, Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, and Ambassador Tirumurti, Permanent Representative of India and Chair of the Sanctions Committee on Libya, for their insightful briefings. I also would like to thank Dr. Jazia Shuaiter for her valuable opinion and welcome Ambassador Taher Al-Sunni, Permanent Representative of Libya, in our meeting today.

Regarding the recent developments in Libya, we would like to commend the Libyan parities for showing restraint and abstaining from conflict despite the current uncertainty in the political process. The Libyan people have suffered greatly as a result of conflict, and therefore they should continue to choose peace as the path to achieve security, stability, and prosperity in Libya. At the same time, the international community should remain committed in its support for the State of Libya during this critical period.

As a priority, all diplomatic efforts must continue to advance the political process. As affirmed by Security Council resolutions 2570 and 2571, as well as the outcome of the Second Berlin Conference, these efforts should also focus on holding free, fair, inclusive, and credible presidential and parliamentary elections that are carried out as soon as possible and on a date agreed upon by the Libyan people.

We stress the need for all parties to respond to the Secretary-General’s call to prioritize maintaining stability in Libya. All concerned parties should exercise restraint and avoid taking any measures that may undermine the progress made in resolving the Libyan crisis.

All parties should commit to focusing on a comprehensive national reconciliation process and engage in a dialogue with stakeholders that does not exclude any segment of Libyan society. The primary goal must be to maintain the country’s unity, safeguard Libyan interests, and protect its national institutions from partisan interests and disputes. In this regard, we stress the need to involve women and youth in every step of Libya’s state-building process.

In terms of the security situation in Libya, my country commends the critical work of the 5+5 Joint Military Commission to achieve stability and peace in Libya. We also commend the role of the commission in maintaining the ceasefire agreement despite the uncertainty of the political situation in the country. We look forward to intensifying efforts to make tangible progress in implementing the commission’s plan, which calls for the simultaneous, phased, gradual, and balanced withdrawal of foreign forces, foreign fighters, and mercenaries from Libya. We also reiterate our previous calls to deal with the withdrawal in a serious manner, as this issue impacts all tracks in Libya, especially the security and military tracks.

Additionally, all regional and international parties must take serious and concrete steps to unify the Libyan military and security institutions and to maintain the security and stability in the country as well as in neighboring countries. The unification of these institutions will also help to avoid the creation of a security vacuum. The remnants of terrorist cells in the country, especially cells affiliated with Daesh, could exploit a security vacuum to reorganize their forces and form new epicenters of terrorism in the southern border areas, particularly in the Libyan desert and the Sahel region. In this regard, we appreciate the Libyan forces’ role in confronting Daesh terrorist elements in southern Libya.

The achievements made in the security environment have contributed to the improvement of economic and humanitarian conditions in Libya. According to a report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the number of people in need of assistance has decreased by 36 percent this year compared to last year. From this standpoint, we stress the need to continue strengthening humanitarian efforts, while focusing on implementing economic and financial reforms as well as addressing any challenge that could undermine the gains made in Libya over the past several months.

Finally, the UAE renews its full support for the United Nations Support Mission in Libya, and we call for taking further steps to support the Mission in implementing its mandate more effectively.