Statement by Chargé d’Affaires of the Russian Federation Dmitry Polyanskiy at the UN Security Council briefing on Libya
Mr. President,
We are grateful to Ms. Stephanie Khouri, Deputy Special Representative for Political Affairs for Libya and Head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), and to Mr. Yamazaki Kazuyuki, Permanent Representative of Japan, for their briefings.
The Libyan political process is at a stalemate. So far, we have seen no prospect of any tangible progress on the constitutional track in the negotiations between Libya's House of Representatives and the High Council of State. In the current conditions, the status quo implies stagnant political process, continued internal political crisis and persistent division for an indefinite period of time. That will inevitably be followed by further deterioration in the security and economic spheres and by a general decline in the living standards of ordinary Libyans. The situation is about to become critical and is unlikely to change unless the entire international community works closely with the Libyan parties.
It is crucial to ensure an inclusive Libyan-led and Libyan-owned political process involving all influential and respected political forces in the country, with a view to reaching mutually acceptable electoral outcomes. Representatives of the former government should also be involved in the process. At the same time, plans for the future of Libya should be long-term in nature and should center around the good of the Libyan people, rather than being reduced to discussing the conjectural interests of a certain group or actor. What also should be avoided is artificial deadlines and externally imposed "formulas".
Mr. President,
Russia shares the international consensus regarding the central role of the UN in the Libyan settlement process. We would like to underscore our genuine support for the efforts of the key element of this configuration, which is the UN Mission in Libya. At the same time, we welcome the positive contribution of parallel initiatives proposed by other countries of the region. With the United Nations mediation stalled, their willingness to contribute to the search for a positive solution for Libya is understandable.
We hope that the common effort will eventually bridge the gulf of mistrust that has emerged between the Libyan actors in the years since NATO's 2011 aggression. We are convinced that any steps to facilitate the restoration of the former Jamahiriya’s unity should be welcomed at this stage.
Mr. President,
The ongoing internal crisis and division in Libya make the security situation on the ground very fragile and uncertain, and we have seen it on many occasions in recent months. The major problem of Libya – the issue of consolidating political power – is still unresolved, which gives an additional impetus to the emergence of new points of tension and new players who are desperate, as they do not believe that a solution, which would be positive for everybody, will come up soon.
Regarding the issue of ending the foreign military presence in the country, we have consistently advocated the need of a synchronized, balanced, gradual and step-by-step withdrawal of all non-Libyan armed groups and military units without exception, and in the course of this withdrawal the balance of power should not be upset.
Mr. President,
What causes the most serious concern is the established practice of encroachment on Libyan assets, which are now “frozen” under the sanction regime by unscrupulous (we've had plenty of opportunities to see that they are really unscrupulous) Western banks and financial institutions. We can't turn a blind eye to the fact that sometimes national governments follow the lead of these structures in order to give their nationals a chance to make some extra profit. But let us not forget that it was Western countries that destroyed a sovereign developing Libya by ignoring UNSC decisions.
As we know, in 2011, the Libyan state was destroyed, and the Security Council levied sanctions against the country. However, the Belgian fund Euroclear still holds some €15 billion that belong to the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA). As was recently revealed thanks to a journalistic investigation, for 6 years, allegedly "by mistake", Belgian bankers pretended that they did not know that they had to "freeze" the interest earnings generated by this capital. Moreover, these earnings were quietly “written off” the accounts and disappeared. As far as we can tell, the amount in question is about €2.8 billion. This money was simply stolen from the Libyan people. The LIU leadership intends to seek justice in courts, and we sincerely hope that they will succeed, despite the fact that stealing other people's assets has recently become common practice for Western countries.
As a reminder, these funds were blocked not to punish anyone, but to safeguards these very funds. This is what we believe the main task of the Council in this regard – to keep the Libyan funds at the current, turbulent stage so that in the future they could be used for the benefit of the Libyan people, as it was set out in the relevant UN SC documents.
Mr. President,
In conclusion, I would like to emphasize that, given the critical role that UNSMIL is to play in the Libyan settlement, all the problems we have mentioned today will only be exacerbated unless we are able to swiftly appoint a new Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya and Head of Mission. All we need here is a reputable figure with authority, who is respected by Libyan parties but at the same time equidistant from all of them. We need a person who will not try to promote their own agenda in the country but, rather, will be able to build the necessary respectful dialog with all the international actors involved. Only in this case will the new Special Representative be able to effectively broker the national dialog. It is also of utmost importance that this person's initiatives be trusted by the Libyans.
We call on the UN Secretary General to intensify efforts looking for a worthy candidate who would meet all these criteria and be supported by all members of the Security Council. We do hope that this transition period will not take too long. We wish Ms. Khoury to go through this commendable process, and we would like to reiterate our commitment to working very closely with UNSMIL staff both in New York and in Tripoli.
Mr. President,
We would also like to respond to those who are trying to speculate about the violation by my country of the sanction regime against Libya. We recall here that traditionally friendly Russian-Libyan co-operation is carried out with due regard for all international obligations and does not contravene the provisions of any Security Council resolutions. We will not let anyone play on intra-Libyan contradictions and saw discord between Russia and our partners.
Instead of the well-worn fabrications, it would be much more interesting to hear from our American colleague explanations about the activities of Amentum private military company on the territory of Libya, which follows, among other things, from the messages on its website. The web site also shows that this PMC operates in Somalia and Benin. According to the observations of Libyan journalists, Amentum has recently intensified its activities in Tripoli. This is indeed a topic for the Sanctions Committee to consider, but our American colleagues, who believe themselves to be masters of the world, are unlikely to allow experts to investigate into this issue.
Thank you for your attention.
