UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for calm as street demonstrations spread across Libya to protest blackouts and the failure to hold national elections.
Talks between Libyan factions in Geneva, convened by UN special adviser Stephanie Williams, made progress last week but without agreement on a constitution for the elections.
Protesters stormed the parliament in the eastern city of Tobruk on Friday night as anger erupted over deteriorating living conditions and political impasse.
“The Secretary-General is following with concern the demonstrations that have taken place in several cities in Libya, including Tripoli, Tobruk and Benghazi,” Guterres’ office said in a statement.
The UN chief called on protesters “to avoid acts of violence and for security forces to exercise maximum restraint.”
According to the statement, Guterres also called on “Libyan actors to come together to overcome the ongoing political impasse” which is negatively “deepening the divide”.
Libyan protesters stormed and set fire to the parliament building in Tobruk – video
Libyan protesters, after a year of relative calm in the face of endless political infighting, appear to have lost patience with the political class, saying they will continue to demonstrate until all ruling elites leave power.
Williams had hoped that the elections scheduled for December would lead to a changing of the guard in the country, but disputes over the constitution, the eligibility of certain presidential candidates and the dominance of the old figures who controlled the political landscape for the past decade led to their cancellation.
After the failure of holding the elections, Williams tried to convince factions in the eastern and western parts of the country to agree on a future constitution for the country as a prerequisite for holding the elections.
Ultimately, street protests, including the storming of the parliament in Tobruk on Friday, may spur the political elite to make the necessary compromises.
This weekend, protesters held their biggest rallies in years in the capital Tripoli, chanting slogans against Libya’s warring political elites, while demonstrators blocked roads in Benghazi and Misrata and set fire to government buildings in Sebha and Karabuli.
“We reaffirm our determination to continue on the path of peaceful demonstration until the last breath to achieve our goals,” said the Beltrees Youth Movement, a group of online activists angry about living conditions.
She said she would occupy city streets and squares until all ruling political bodies “publicly announce their resignation.”
The country is divided between the eastern-based House of Representatives, which appointed Fathi Bashaga as prime minister, and the Tripoli-based interim government led by Abdul Hamid Dbeiba.
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As part of an earlier agreement, Dbeybach had committed to stand down when elections were held, but then refused to do so, after which Bashaga made a failed attempt to take Tripoli.
Dbeiba said on Friday that all members of Libya’s political institutions should step down and hold elections, but Williams said there was no other option but to agree on a constitutional framework to hold the first presidential election in the country’s history. “The only way to real legitimacy is through the ballot box,” she said. She warned that the poorest and most needy were being left on the margins of political debate.
Neither Tobruk’s parliament nor the western-based Supreme Council of State can claim credible mandates to remain in power, having been elected as recently as 2011, but the previous absence of visible public anger has so far left the incumbent class safe in power, using patronage and access to Libya’s vast oil wealth to distribute largesse to key groups.
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