July 9 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The United Nations has congratulated the rival Libyan factions for their agreement to form a joint commission that will have the objective of establishing a financing process for the expected elections in the country based, for example, on an equitable distribution of the benefits of crude oil.
The agreement announced on Friday stipulates a new body chaired by the Head of the Libyan Presidential Council, Mohamed Menfi, which will have the president of the state-owned National Oil Corporation, Farhat bin Qadara, as right-hand man. Most important, however, is the presence on the committee of representatives of the eastern Libyan Parliament and the region’s strongman, Marshal Khalifa Haftar, reports the Libya Observer.
This pact has been reached precisely two days after Haftar imposed an ultimatum for the rival factions in Tripoli and the east of the country to reach an agreement before the end of August to decide once and for all the distribution of crude oil — in especially essential deposits in the eastern part — after weeks of complaints from the eastern authorities about the lack of equity in the distribution, to the point that they threatened to cut off exports, key to the country’s development.
Thus, the United Nations Support Mission for Libya, UNSMIL, welcomes the creation of this High Financial Supervision Committee as a solution not only to the issue of electoral financing, but also to “the basic problems of public spending and fair distribution of resources” that plague the country after years of war and chaos after the death of Gaddafi in 2011 and the consequent fracture between its parallel administrations.
“The Mission takes note of the political consensus reached and reflected in the composition of the committee, which includes candidates from the House of Representatives (from the east), the High Council of State (from Tripoli), (…) the National Corporation of Oil and the Presidential Council,” said UNSMIL in its statement, published this past Saturday on its Twitter account.
“This inclusive approach will help facilitate a level playing field for all candidates in elections, as well as the transparent spending of public funds and the equitable distribution of national resources,” the UN adds.
Finally, the United Nations requests that the consensus exhibited in this initiative “serve as an example for the country’s leaders and institutions to address all controversial issues surrounding life in the country.”
