At UNSC, Foreign Secretary Shringla extends India's support to Libya's National Unity govt

Vardhan Shringla, India's Foreign Secretary, on Thursday extended India’s support to Libya's National Unity government with New Delhi willing to provide "capacity building and training assistance in mutually identified areas." Libya's National Unity government was formed in March this year after years of instability and has been charged with the conduct of elections on December 24, 2021. Shringla further said, "Elections need to be held as planned on December 24, 2021, in a free and fair manner. In order to achieve this, it is vital that the constitutional basis for conducting elections is agreed upon early.” He said work is necessary on an "inclusive and comprehensive national reconciliation process" and hoped that all the "parties concerned would engage sincerely in this endeavour."

Current situation in Libya

In October 2020, a major ceasefire was agreed upon between all the various rival parties in Libya. The agreement was for the withdrawal of foreign mercenaries and other forces from the country within 90 days. Other agreements included the exchange of prisoners. Shringla said that the ceasefire agreement "need to be respected" but "unfortunately, these provisions, in particular, those related to the withdrawal of foreign forces and mercenaries, continue to be violated".  He continued that the "arms embargo continues to be blatantly violated" and "there needs to be a serious discussion within UNSC for measures to ensure that the decisions of the Council on withdrawal of foreign forces are implemented for sustainable peace and stability" in the North African country.

TS Tirumurti, India's envoy to United Nations, is the chair of the UNSC's Libya sanctions committee. He must observe the implementation of the sanctions like arms embargo, travel ban, assets freeze, and business restrictions for listed terror groups based in the country. Shringla warned Libya that, "We must ensure that terrorist groups and affiliated entities are not allowed to operate unchallenged in Libya" and wants Islamic State in Libya to be kept under check. He said, "Libya has become a logistics platform for Al-Qaeda affiliates in Mali. This is a matter of grave concern due to the potential cascading effect it could have throughout the Sahel region.”