UN adviser tells Libya it must preserve calm, stability

Stephanie Williams said she met the Prime Minister of the Government of National Unity, Abdulhamid Al-Dbeibah, and also Fathi Bashagha. (File/AFP)
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Updated 13 February 2022
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UN adviser tells Libya it must preserve calm, stability

  • Dbeibah emphasised during his meeting with Williams the need to complete the roadmap approved in Geneva
  • Bashagha said meeting with Williams touched on efforts to form proposed government “in a transparent and fair manner”

TRIPOLI: The UN Secretary-General’s special adviser on Libya on Sunday called on both Libya’s interim prime minister Abdulhamid Al-Dbeibah and his parliament-designated successor Fathi Bashagha to preserve calm and stability.
Dbeibah, prime minister of the UN-recognized Government of National Unity (GNU), has said he will hand over power only after an election and has rejected parliament’s move last Thursday to appoint former interior minister Bashagha to head a new government.
Libya was meant to hold presidential and parliamentary elections in December, but arguments between factions and bodies of state over how they should take place meant the process collapsed days before the vote.
UN adviser Stephanie Williams held separate meetings with Dbeibah and Bashagha.
Williams said on Twitter she highlighted in her meeting with Bashagha “the need to go forward in an inclusive, transparent, and consensual manner, and to maintain stability in Tripoli and throughout the country.”
She added that the focus must continue to be on the holding of “free, fair and inclusive national elections in the shortest possible time.”
Dbeibah emphasised during his meeting with Williams the need to complete the roadmap approved in Geneva, GNU’s Facebook page said.
All parties are responsible for creating “the appropriate conditions for holding national elections and holding a referendum on the constitution during this year,” Dbeibah said.
For his part, Bashagha said his meeting with Williams touched on efforts to form the proposed government “in a transparent and fair manner.”
He also stressed “his keenness on the stability of the security situation and committing to the constitutional frameworks and timelines set for holding the elections.”


January settler attacks cause record West Bank displacement since Oct 2023: UN

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January settler attacks cause record West Bank displacement since Oct 2023: UN

RAMALLAH: Israeli settler violence and harassment in the occupied West Bank displaced nearly 700 Palestinians in January, the United Nations said Thursday, the highest rate since the Gaza war erupted in October 2023.
At least 694 Palestinians were forcefully driven from their homes last month, according to figures from the UN’s humanitarian agency OCHA, which compiles data from various United Nations agencies.
The UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) said in late January that settler violence has become a key driver of forced displacement in the West Bank.
January’s displacement numbers were particularly high in part due to the displacement of an entire herding community in the Jordan Valley, Ras Ein Al-Auja, whose 130 families left after months of harassment.
“What is happening today is the complete collapse of the community as a result of the settlers’ continuous and repeated attacks, day and night, for the past two years,” Farhan Jahaleen, a Bedouin resident, told AFP at the time.
Settlers in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, use herding to establish a presence on agricultural lands used by Palestinian communities and gradually deny them access to these areas, according to a 2025 report by Israeli NGO Peace Now.
To force Palestinians out, settlers resort to harassment, intimidation and violence, “with the backing of the Israeli government and military,” the settlement watchdog said.
“No one is putting the pressure on Israel or on the Israeli authorities to stop this and so the settlers feel it, they feel the complete impunity that they’re just free to continue to do this,” said Allegra Pacheco, director of the West Bank Protection Consortium, a group of NGOS working to support Palestinian communities against displacement.
She pointed to a lack of attention on the West Bank as another driving factor.
“All eyes are focused on Gaza when it comes to Palestine, while we have an ongoing ethnic cleansing in the West Bank and nobody’s paying attention,” she told AFP.
West Bank Palestinians are also displaced when Israel’s military destroys structures and dwellings it says are built without permits.
In January, 182 more Palestinians were displaced due to home demolitions, according to OCHA.
Excluding Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, the West Bank is home to more than 500,000 Israelis living in settlements and outposts considered illegal under international law.
Around three million Palestinians live in the West Bank.