16. UNSMIL has visited all defendants, with various levels of supervision, in Tripoli, as well as in Misrata and Zintan. UNSMIL has been denied access to other detainees held in al-Hadhba prison on grounds that they have not been charged. I have strongly protested about the brief detention in al-Hadhba of an UNSMIL senior staff attending as observer the trial session of 11 May and at false accusations levelled against him. UNSMIL received oral apologies and assurances from the Libyan authorities of their commitment to respect the Status of Mission Agreement between Libya and UNSMIL. However, his personal effects have not been returned. Therefore I decided to suspend the attendance of UNSMIL staff to other trial sessions until the case of our colleague is fully resolved.
17. More recently, on 4 June, four UNSMIL staff members, and upon their return from Al Bayda, were detained by the airport security authorities and ill treated. During their detention, which lasted more than an hour, false accusations against them, once again, were cited. Their release occurred after the intervention of the Ministry of Interior. I protested and reminded the Libyan authorities, once again, of their obligation to respect the Mission agreement signed with UNSMIL.
Mr. President,
18. The current situation in Libya has inevitably slowed the pace of security sector rebuilding and reform. Nonetheless, there has been some progress in developing the operationalization of the Rome Conference Security Compact. Assistance is given to the Ministry of Defence committee in preparing a defence policy and strategy, and having a proper management and security of arms and ammunition, a critical issue in Libya.
19. However, the Rome Security Compact also included measures to establish proper governance of the security sector, including the difficult issues of disarmament and reintegration of the armed groups. So far there has been no sustainable progress.
Mr. President,
20. Today the United Nations are called upon to facilitate a political dialogue among all parties. This is more crucial than ever before. To this end, I have redoubled my efforts to urge all parties in Libya to resolve the political impasse through peaceful means, and to impress upon them that a resort to the use of force will have disastrous consequences for the country. Following consultations with all concerned parties, I will be convening, within the next ten days, a meeting that brings representatives of the major actors (political leaders, personalities, women, tribal leaders…), with the aim of forging an agreement on principles of political interaction, national priorities during the remainder of the transition, and on ways of addressing immediate security, and otherwise divisive issues. The stakes are high, and we will spare no effort in helping prevent Libya’s descent into greater instability and violence.
Thank you.
(Source: UMSMIL)
