Sat 31 October 2020:
Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al Sarraj, who planned to step down on October 31, has taken back his decision to resign at the end of October.
Sarraj will remain in office until the ongoing intra-Libyan political dialogue talks come to an end, Libyan government spokesman Galib al Zaklai said on Twitter.
This came a day after the High Council of State urged Sarraj, the head of the Presidential Council, to stay until a new presidential council is selected in order to avoid a political vacuum and for Libya’s stability.
The UN Support Mission in Libya and the parliament in Tripoli also called on Sarraj to postpone his decision, citing “reasons of higher interest.”
Sarraj announced in September his “sincere desire” to hand over duties to the next executive authority no later than the end of October.
The two warring sides have already launched talks via videoconference but are due to hold in-person negotiations on November 9 in Tunisia, with the goal of holding national elections.
Early in the day, the Government of National Accord (GNA) in a statement said Sarraj had received several requests to stay in his post longer to avoid a “political vacuum,” including from “leaders in friendly countries,” UN officials and civil society groups.
Sarraj, however, insists that “the exit of the current political actors will help to find a way out” of Libya’s crisis, it added.
Libya descended into revolution and a complex civil war after the overthrow and killing of strongman Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, eventually being split between two main factions – the GNA in Tripoli, backed by Turkey and Qatar, and warlord Khalifa Haftar’s militants in the east, backed by the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, France and Russia.
Sarraj was appointed in 2015 to lead the presidential council, created by a political agreement that was signed by Libya’s factions in Skhirat, Morocco, which was backed by the United Nations.
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