GENEVA / LIBYA

Seventy Libyan representatives from opposing factions began a five-day meeting in Switzerland to select an interim prime minister and a three-person Presidency Council, in a crucial bid unite their troubled country under a single government ahead of elections in December. UNTV CH

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:51
• Production Date: 1 February 2021
• Asset Language: English
• Personal Subject: STEPHANIE T. WILLIAMS
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS SUPPORT MISSION IN LIBYA - UNSMIL
• Subject Topical: PEACE PROCESS; PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS
• Geographic Subject: LIBYA
• MAMS Id: 2600610
• Parent Id: 2600610
• Alternate Title: unifeed210201c

Description

STORY: GENEVA / LIBYA
TRT: 02:51
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 01 FEBRUARY 2021, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

Shotlist

1. Wide shot, exterior, conference tent
2. Various shots, arrival of Stephanie Williams, United Nations Acting Special Representative of the Secretary-General with team
3. Various shots, Libyan National anthem
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Stephanie Williams, United Nations Acting Special Representative of the Secretary-General:
“While the selection of the interim unified executive is not an election in the traditional sense, open competition is good for democracy. This is the kind of competition that can only take place when the guns are silent. Indeed, a year ago, this would not have been possible.”
5. Med shot, Stephanie Williams
6. Wide shot, Stephanie Williams talking to participants
7. Close up, Stephanie Williams talking to participants
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Stephanie Williams, United Nations Acting Special Representative of the Secretary-General:
“The Libyan people are behind you, they support you, they want you to succeed. They need you to succeed. Don’t let them down.”
9. Close up, Stephanie Williams
10.Med shot, Stephanie Williams with participant
11. Close up, Stephanie Williams
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Stephanie Williams, United Nations Acting Special Representative of the Secretary-General:
“Today you will listen to the presentations of the candidates for the Presidency Council, who will address your questions as well as the questions from the Libyan public that we collected through a dynamic digital dialogue session I held last night with over 1,000 of your fellow citizens, most of them young Libyans.”
13. Various shots, Stephanie Williams, United Nations Acting Special Representative of the Secretary-General with participants
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Stephanie Williams, United Nations Acting Special Representative of the Secretary-General: “
“This project is not about power sharing or dividing the cake. Rather, it is to form a temporary government composed of patriots who agree to shoulder and share the responsibility to put Libyan sovereignty and the security, prosperity and welfare of the Libyan people above narrow interests and far from the specter of foreign interference.”

Storyline

Seventy Libyan representatives from opposing factions began a five-day meeting in Switzerland today (21 Feb) to select an interim prime minister and a three-person Presidency Council, in a crucial bid unite their troubled country under a single government ahead of elections in December.

Stephanie Williams, the United Nations Acting Special Representative, in her opening remarks said, “while the selection of the interim unified executive is not an election in the traditional sense, open competition is good for democracy. This is the kind of competition that can only take place when the guns are silent. Indeed, a year ago, this would not have been possible.”

Williams is the facilitator of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF). Following adoption on 19 January by the LPDF of the mechanism to select this temporary executive authority, UNSMIL – the United Nations Support Mission in Libya - announced the opening of a one-week period for the submission of candidacies, which closed yesterday at midnight.

“The Libyan people are behind you, they support you, they want you to succeed. They need you to succeed. Don’t let them down,” Williams urged the delegates.

During the meeting, participants in the LPDF will vote on the positions of a three-member Presidency Council and the Prime Minister, in accordance with the roadmap adopted by the Forum in Tunis in mid-November. This new interim, unified executive authority will be primarily tasked with leading Libya to national elections, set for 24 December 2021, and to reunify state institutions.

“Today you will listen to the presentations of the candidates for the Presidency Council, who will address your questions as well as the questions from the Libyan public that we collected through a dynamic digital dialogue session I held last night with over 1,000 of your fellow citizens, most of them young Libyans,” said Williams.

“This project is not about power sharing or dividing the cake,” Williams added. She said, “rather, it is to form a temporary government composed of patriots who agree to shoulder and share the responsibility to put Libyan sovereignty and the security, prosperity and welfare of the Libyan people above narrow interests and far from the specter of foreign interference.”

Since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that ousted long-time strongman Muammar Gaddafi, Libya has been in turmoil and split between rival administrations in the east and west — each backed by an array of militias and foreign powers.