Joint communiqué on Libya
The governments of Spain, Germany, the United States, France, Italy and
the United Kingdom welcome the resumed Libyan political dialogue in
Skhirat, Morocco.
March 24, 2015
MADRID
Madrid, March 22, 2015
The governments of Spain, Germany, the United States, France, Italy and the United Kingdom welcome the resumed Libyan political dialogue taking place in Skhirat, Morocco. We express our steadfast support for the efforts by the special representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations, Bernardino León, of the team of the United Nations Supporting Mission in Libya, as well as the Libyan participants, and we congratulate them all for the progress achieved up to now. We urge all those who are taking part in the dialogue to undertake discussions with a constructive spirit and in good faith in order to reach an agreement as to a national unity government and the provisions of a ceasefire as soon as possible.
We await with interest the meeting of Libyan municipal governments to be hosted by the European Union in Brussels on March 23-24. It will provide an opportunity to debate the execution of the measures to promote trust agreed upon at the latest meeting in Geneva, supplying humanitarian aid –which is needed urgently– and certain provisions for security in the field.
We also warmly welcome the meeting between political parties and activists held in Algeria on the dates of March 10-11, and we have taken note of the participants’ determination to send a strong, clear, unified message about their full commitment to dialogue as the only solution to the crisis in Libya, their refusal to turn to violence to solve political differences, their complete rejection of all forms of military escalation and their call for an immediate stop to military operations in order to allow for dialogue to continue in a productive environment.
Within this context, we strongly condemn the attacks in Aziziya on March 19-20 and the aerial attacks under way against the airports in Zintan and Maitiga, as well as in Tripoli, and all other acts of violence. We deeply regret the fact that the parties in the conflict refuse to put a stop to the fighting, thereby jeopardizing the lives of civilians while causing destruction to Libya’s national infrastructure. We call for all Libyan political leaders to act responsibly and to express their support for dialogue clearly, as well as exercising their authority over the military leaders and militias. They must ensure the civil oversight of the aforementioned parties’ activities and reject any military action performed outside the proper framework. Those who are attempting to block the process led by the United Nations and the democratic transition in Libya will not be allowed to condemn the country to chaos and extremism four years later. The Libyan people and the international community will make them accountable for their actions, applying sanctions against them, as established under Security Council Resolution 2174.
We are deeply concerned by the growing threat of terrorist groups in Libya, including Daesh, which have expanded their presence in Libya as a result of the lack of a strong, unified central government in the country. The process led by the United Nations to establish a national unity government offers the best hope for Libyans to deal with this terrorist threat and the violence and instability which are hindering the political transition and development in Libya. The international community is willing to provide full support to a unity government in its struggle to deal with the challenges which Libya now faces.
