DERNA: The United Nations’ Libya envoy Abdoulaye Bathily said on Monday he was concerned about “unilateral and competing initiatives” by Libyan institutions to rebuild Derna, where a destructive flood killed thousands of people last month.
“Unilateral efforts are counterproductive, deepen the existing divisions in the country, impede reconstruction efforts and are at odds with the outpouring of solidarity, support and national unity shown by Libyan people,” he said in a statement.
Libya has had little stable governance since a 2011 NATO-backed uprising and it split in 2014 between western and eastern factions with parallel political institutions.
On Sunday, the eastern administration said it was postponing an international conference it had planned to hold on reconstruction for Derna.
The internationally recognized government in Tripoli, in the west, has also said it plans to hold a reconstruction conference.
Analysts have said control over Derna’s reconstruction, which could bring large sums in finance and coordination with foreign powers, may become a major new arena for conflict between Libyan factions.
UN Libya envoy urges unified Derna flood response
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UN Libya envoy urges unified Derna flood response
- On Sunday, the eastern administration said it was postponing an international conference it had planned to hold on reconstruction for Derna
Election of new Iraqi president delayed by Kurds
BAGHDAD: Iraq’s parliament postponed the election of a president on Tuesday to allow Kurdish rivals time to agree on a candidate.
Parliamentary Speaker Haibat Al-Halbussi received requests from Iraq's two main Kurdish parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, to postpone the vote to allow both parties more time to reach a deal.
By convention, a Shi’ite holds the powerful post of prime minister, the parliamentary Speaker is a Sunni and the largely ceremonial presidency goes to a Kurd.
Under a tacit agreement between the two main Kurdish parties, a PUK member holds the Iraqi presidency, while the president and regional premier of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region is selected from the KDP. But this time the KDP has named Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein as its own candidate for the presidency.
Once elected, the president will then have 15 days to appoint a prime minister, widely expected to be Nouri Al-Maliki, who held the post from 2006 to 2014. The shrewd 75-year-old politician is Iraq’s only two-term premier since the 2003 US-led invasion.
The Coordination Framework, an alliance of Shi’ite parties that holds a parliamentary majority, has already endorsed Maliki.
