The Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) is an intra-Libyan political body involved in series of meetings started in late 2020, initially aiming to lead to Libyan elections, Libyan peace process and "democratic legitimacy of Libyan institutions", mainly taking place in the context of the Second Libyan Civil War. [1] The LPDF continued in 2020, involving both Government of National Unity and the Government of National Stability as leading elements of the peace process. [2]
Street protests of the Arab Spring and the NATO military intervention in 2011 turned into the First Libyan Civil War, led to the overthrow of the government and death of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Transitional arrangements were unstable, leading into the Second Libyan Civil War and rival Libyan governments. In late 2015, the Skhirat agreement proposed an institutional transition to unify Libyan state institutions. [3] The Palermo Conference in November 2018 proposed to hold the Libyan National Conference and national elections in 2019. [4] The April 2019 attack on Tripoli by the Libyan National Army led by Khalifa Haftar delayed the peace process, which was relaunched by Ghassan Salamé, head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL). Salamé's plan included a ceasefire, an international meeting of countries violating the arms embargo of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973, and parallel intra-Libyan negotiation tracks divided into economic, military and political components. [2]
The Libyan Political Dialogue Forum started being named as such in September 2019 under Stephanie Williams' leadership of UNSMIL as its deputy head, after Salamé's resignation, continuing the political track of intra-Libyan dialogue. [5] [6] The aim of the LPDF was defined as being "to generate consensus on a unified governance framework and arrangements that will lead to the holding of national elections in the shortest possible timeframe in order to restore Libya's sovereignty and the democratic legitimacy of Libyan institutions." [1]
UNSMIL, based on a "recommendation from a great majority of Libyan constituencies", set a condition that participation in the LPDF required participants to declare themselves ineligible ("recuse themselves") from positions of political or "sovereign" power in the new institutions to be created. [1]
The Libyan Youth Track is a component of the LPDF aiming to include youth contributions to the political transition process in Libya. The Digital Dialogue included 1000 young Libyans inside Libya and in the Libyan diaspora. An 18 October 2020 meeting included 40 young Libyans "from various political, ethnic and tribal backgrounds". UNSMIL participants in the 18 October meeting informed participants of the military and economic tracks of the three-track intra-Libyan peace process, and of a human rights track. The participants agreed on recommendations for the LPDF and for the military and economic tracks of the peace negotiations, including specific requirements on the transitional political process. The participants chose their youngest woman member to present their recommendations to the LPDF. [7] The recommendations were divided into eight groups: general comments on the LPDF, security and economic tracks; transitional period executive authority; the draft constitution; elections; the economy; the judicial issues; security issues; and a mechanism for communication with the LPDF. Several participants requested that recommendations of a youth meeting in southern Libya, the "Twiwah document", should be included in LPDF documentation. [8]
The LPDF planned to start online virtual meetings on 26 October 2020, and to hold its first face-to-face meeting in Tunisia in early November 2020. [1] Williams held meetings with Libyan mayors from the West, South and East of Libya in mid-October as part of the LPDF process aiming at wide inclusion of social and political groups. [9]
A four-day LPDF Advisory Committee meeting was held from 13–16 January 2021 in Geneva, during which a proposal for the mechanism for selecting a unified executive authority was agreed upon. [10] The following day, Williams participated in an online chat with 1000 Libyans, mostly located in diverse regions of Libya, and others from the diaspora. Polls taken during the online meeting found that 70% found the results of the Advisory Committee meeting to be positive; 76% supported holding national elections on 24 December 2021; 69% supported having a unified executive leading up to the elections; and all supported the 23 October 2020 ceasefire. Some participants expressed worries about "the 'status quo' party" obstructing changes. [11]
On 18 January 2021, 72 of the LPDF members participated in a vote on the 16 January proposal for a unified executive authority selection procedure. The proposal passed, since it attained more than the 63% decision threshold, with 51 voters in favour, 19 against, 2 absentions and 2 absences. [10] The procedure includes electoral colleges, support from the West, East and South of Libya, a 60% initial threshold, and a 50% plus one second round threshold, for the positions in the Presidency Council and for the prime ministership. [12]
On 5 February 2021, the procedure resulted in selecting Mohamed al-Menfi as President of the Presidential Council, Abdul Hamid al-Dabaib as Prime Minister, and Musa Al-Koni and Abdullah al-Lafi as Presidential Council members. [13]
On 7 July 2012, the National Transitional Council, in power since the Libyan Civil War, supervised democratic elections for a 200-member General National Congress to replace the Council. The assembly was to choose a prime minister and organize parliamentary elections in 2013. A process to write a constitution was also to be determined. Unrest driven by armed militias, ethnic minority and radical groups undermined the process and the government for the years following the overthrowing of Muammar Gaddafi. While internal apathy towards democratic reforms slowed the process, external bodies such as the European Union were still pressing for the establishment of a national dialogue to build consensus for the drafting of a new constitution to take place before the end of 2014. Parliamentary elections were scheduled to be held on 25 June 2014 in a move aimed at stabilizing the country and quelling the unrest.
The Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD), otherwise known as the Henry Dunant Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, works to prevent and resolve armed conflicts around the world through mediation and discreet diplomacy. A non-profit organisation based in Switzerland, HD was founded in 1999 on the principles of humanity, impartiality and independence. HD is supervised by an independent board, regularly reports to donors and undergoes financial audits every year.
The Cabinet of Libya serves as the leadership for the executive branch of the government of Libya.
The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) is a United Nations (UN) advanced mission in Libya, created in the aftermath of the Libyan Civil War. UNSMIL is a political mission, not a military mission. The main elements of its mandate defined by the UN include supporting Libyan transitional authorities in "post-conflict efforts", providing mediation in implementing Libyan political agreements, supporting key Libyan institutions and monitoring and reporting on human rights. UNSMIL is led by the UN Department of Political Affairs.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 2009 was unanimously adopted on 16 September 2011.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 2022 was unanimously adopted on 2 December 2011, after recalling resolutions 2009 (2011).
Ghassan Salamé is a Paris-based Lebanese academic. He served as the Lebanese Minister of Culture from 2000 to 2003. He was the Dean of the Paris School of International Affairs (PSIA) and professor of International Relations at Sciences Po. Salamé served as the head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya from 2017 to 2020.
Bernardino León Gross is a Spanish diplomat and politician and former United Nations Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya. Prior to this appointment by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, he served as the European Union Special Representative (EUSR) for the Southern Mediterranean. León is a former Secretary General at the office of the Spanish Prime Minister, Sherpa for the G20 and Spanish Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. His diplomatic career has mainly been devoted to the Arab world.
The Libyan civil war (2014–2020), also more commonly known as the Second Libyan Civil War, was a multilateral civil war which was fought in Libya between a number of armed groups, but mainly the House of Representatives (HoR) and the Government of National Accord, for six years from 2014 to 2020.
The Government of National Accord was an interim government for Libya that was formed under the terms of the Libyan Political Agreement, a United Nations–led initiative, signed on 17 December 2015. The agreement was unanimously endorsed by the United Nations Security Council, which welcomed the formation of a Presidency Council for Libya and recognized the Government of National Accord as the sole legitimate executive authority in Libya. On 31 December 2015, Chairman of the Libyan House of Representatives, Aguila Saleh Issa declared his support for the Libyan Political Agreement. The General National Congress has criticized the GNA on multiple fronts as biased in favor of its rival parliament the House of Representatives.
The Western Libya campaign was a military campaign initiated on 4 April 2019 by the Operation Flood of Dignity of the Libyan National Army, which represents the Libyan House of Representatives, to capture the western region of Libya and eventually the capital Tripoli held by the United Nations Security Council-recognised Government of National Accord. The Government of National Accord regained control over all of Tripoli in June 2020 and the LNA forces withdrew from the capital, after fourteen months of fighting.
The Libyan National Conference was a planned meeting in Ghadames for organising elections and other components of a peace process in Libya. The conference was prepared over 18 months during 2018 and 2019 and planned to take place 14–16 April 2019. It was postponed in early April 2019 as a result the attack on Tripoli by the Libyan National Army led by Khalifa Haftar.
Local elections were held in 20 municipalities in Libya in March and April 2019. The Libyan Central Commission of Municipal Council Elections aimed for a total of elections in 68 municipalities in 2019. With difficulties in organising elections related to the 2019–20 Western Libya campaign, the elections were not completed in 2019; they continued in 2020, with elections to at least 30 additional councils planned for 2021.
Fathi Ali Abdul Salam Bashagha, known simply as "Fathi Bashagha" or occasionally Fathi Ali Pasha, is a Libyan politician and the former interim prime minister of Government of National Stability. He served as Minister of Interior from 2018 to 2021.
Seham Sergiwa is a Libyan psychologist elected to the Libyan parliament in 2014. She was abducted by a Libyan National Army militia loyal to Khalifa Haftar on 17 July 2019. The United Nations Support Mission in Libya expressed its deep concern and stated that "silencing the voices of women in decision-making positions [would] not be tolerated." As of 17 October 2019, Sergiwa's location was unknown and the "authorities in eastern Libya" had not published the results of any investigation.
The Libyan peace process was a series of meetings, agreements and actions that aimed to resolve the Second Libyan Civil War. Among these were the Skhirat agreement of December 2015 and the plans for the Libyan National Conference in April 2019 that were delayed because of the 2019–20 Western Libya campaign.
The Supreme Judicial Court of Libya is the legal body in Libya responsible for organising the legal system of Libya, in existence since the 2011 Libyan Civil War. The SJC retained its structure as a single national body throughout the conflict despite the political split and in 2019 went through Libya-wide "transparent elections" and a "peaceful transfer of power", according to the United Nations Support Mission in Libya.
Stephanie Turco Williams is an American diplomat. As of January 2020, Williams is the deputy head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) for political affairs.
Abdul Hamid Muhammad Abdul Rahman al-Dbeibeh is a Libyan politician and businessman who is the prime minister of Libya under the Government of National Unity (GNU) in Tripoli. Dbeibeh was appointed on 15 February 2021 through the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum, and he was expected to hold the office until elections on 24 December 2021, which were later postponed.
The political history of Africa in the 2020s covers political events on the continent, other than elections, from 2020 onwards.