SRSG Bernardino Leon’s Press Conference in Tripoli. Tuesday, 28 October 2014
Good afternoon. Thank you for being here today. As you know, this is my fourth visit to Libya as Special Representative of the secretary general. I was yesterday in tobruk and I had the opportunoihjnty to meet the speaker of HoR, Mr. Agila, and also several members of the HoR to discuss the situation in the country and the Ghadames dialogue.
I also had the opportunity to have some meetings here in Tripoli, both with members of the delegation of the group of parliamentarians who are not attending the gatherings in Tobruk, the so-called boycotters, last night.
I also had the opportunity to meet some representatives from Kikla and Gheryan to discuss the situation in Nafusa Mountain, and this morning I also had a meeting with the Mufti to brief him on the situation of this dialogue and the views of the United Nations and the international community regarding the Libyan crisis.
Obviously, the political dialogue and the political situation in the country has been a very important focus for these talks, although I would say at this stage, having seen what happened in the country in the last two weeks, the international community thinks that the most serious concern today is the situation on the ground, the situation in Benghazi, the situation in Nafusa Mountains, where the ceasefire that was called by members of the two delegations to the HoR has not been respected.
In Benghazi, we have been very clear always about the position of the international community, the possibilities to fight and defeat terrorism, which is a shared concern. In previous meetings we have had here, I have reiterated this point, but we believe this has to be done from the state, it is the state that has to be strong in fighting terrorism and with clear support from the international community. This should be the case. But the concern today is that the situation in Benghazi is going to enter in an even more concerning stage, in a fight street by street, with many civilians that could be affected. So, we again reiterate this call to ceasefire coming from the HoR supported by the international community.
