Key Libyan parties fail to initial AU-sponsored Charter for Peace and Reconciliation
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - A Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation in Libya was signed on Friday in Addis Ababa under the auspices of the African Union (AU).
However, it failed to get all Libyan parties to initial the document, sparking grievances within the country against the Charter.
The signing ceremony took place in the presence of the President of the Republic of Congo and Chairman of the African Union High-Level Committee on Libya, Denis Sassou Nguesso, and the President of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki.
President Sassou Nguesso expressed his hope that the signing will help the Libyan parties form “a unified government, a unified national army and sovereign national institutions”.
The African Union Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, Bankole Adeoye, expressed his joy at participating in the “historic” signing ceremony in a message published on his account on the X, saying that it is part of the African Union’s continued efforts to support peace and reconciliation in Libya.
The signing ceremony, however, revealed, according to observers of the Libyan scene, that the efforts of the AU to bring together all Libyan parties to sign the Charter for Peace and Reconciliation failed because it was attended only by representatives of the former regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, in the absence of representatives from the eastern and western regions.
Vice President of the Libyan Presidential Council, Moussa al-Koni, blamed political leaders from the east and west for Libya's delay in meeting the reconciliation and reunification deadline, considering their absence from the signing ceremony in Addis Ababa as a failure that hinders national reconciliation efforts.
He added in a tweet: "The nation has been waiting for a historic marriage of reconciliation, attended by leaders of Africa and the world, and this remains the goal and the confidence."
A unified executive authority with the Government of National Unity, the Libyan Presidential Council, whose main mission is to achieve national reconciliation, has been working on a national reconciliation project since 2021 and planned to organise an inclusive conference with the support of the AU and the United Nations Support Mission in Libya.
Mohamed Tekkala, who is competing for the presidency of the High Council of State with his rival, Khaled al-Mechri, expressed his reservations about the Charter prepared by the AU, noting that its wording mixes the terms national reconciliation and political settlement.
Mr. Tekkala also criticised the lack of mention of the mechanisms for implementing transitional justice and the non-compliance with the law promulgated by the General National Congress.
-0- PANA BY/JSG/MA 15Feb2025
