The United Nations Security Council has urged a national conference taking place in Libya in mid-April to "engage in good faith" in efforts to forge a roadmap for "credible and peaceful" presidential and parliamentary polls in the chaos-stricken country, the UN said in a statement on Wednesday.
"The National Conference provides a crucial opportunity for all Libyans to put aside their differences, exercise restraint for the good of the country, and achieve peace and prosperity for the Libyan people," said a statement issued by the UNSMIL mission.
A session of the UN Security Council late on Tuesday "called upon all those attending to come together to engage in good faith in this Libyan-led, Libyan-owned process," said the statement.
Security Council members gave their full backing for UN special envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame and to UNSMIL "as they seek to mediate a political way forward in Libya that would lead to credible and peaceful elections," the statement said.
The Security Council also called upon all UN member states and regional organisations to unanimously support Salame "during this critical phase of Libya’s transition," according to the statement.
The Security Council members recalled Libyan leaders’ commitments to "work constructively" with UN-backed efforts to stabilise Libya made at the international conferences in Paris on 29 May and in Palermo on 12‑13 November last year, the statement went on.
Salame announced last week that Libya's national conference will take place from 14 to 16 April in the southwest city of Ghadames, the statement noted. The conference will include representatives from all Libya's political forces and sectors of society, the Libyan Observer daily cited Salame's deputy Stephanie Williams as telling the Al-Ahrar TV Channel on 22 March.
The national conference comes after UN-facilitated talks in Abu Dhabi on 27 February between UN-backed premier Fayez al-Sarraj, and powerful eastern military commander Khalifa Haftar, at which they agreed to end the transitional stage in Libya through the holding of general elections, the statement recalled.
