Madrid, February 18, 2015

The governments of Spain, Germany, the United States, France, Italy and the United Kingdom strongly condemn all acts of terrorism in Libya. The despicable murder of twenty-one Egyptian citizens in Libya by terrorists affiliated with Daesh once again highlights the urgent need to achieve a political solution to the conflict in Libya, the continuation of which only benefits terrorist groups, including Daesh. Terrorism harms all Libyans, and no faction can deal with the challenges Libya faces on its own. The process led by the United Nations to establish a national unity government offers the best solution for the Libyans to enable them to face this terrorist threat and deal with the violence and instability which are keeping a political transition and development from occurring in Libya. The international community is prepared to give its full support to a national unity government that can handle the challenges currently faced by Libya.

The Special Representative of the Secretary General, Bernardino León, will be calling a series of meetings in the upcoming days in order to achieve additional support in favor of a national unity government. We congratulate those parties in the conflict who have taken part in the dialogue up to now and have taken note of the statements of support made by the Chamber of Representatives of Misrata, as well as others in favor of this process. We strongly encourage all of the parties, including individuals related with the former General National Congress (GNC), to take advantage of this opportunity and join the process led by the United Nations in the upcoming days, with a constructive spirit of reconciliation, if they hope to be involved in the construction of a political future in Libya. The urgency of the terrorist threat requires fast progress in the political process, which must be based on well-defined deadlines.

Those who seek to hinder this process and the political transition in Libya, four years after the revolution, will not be allowed to destabilize Libya to a proliferation of chaos and extremism. They will be held accountable by the Libyan people and the international community for their acts.