UN-sponsored dialogue initiative comes to a 'hasty' end

On 16 November, founder of Libya-Analysis LLC Jason Pack commented for The Middle East Institute on the inconclusive state in which the UN-sponsored Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) ended on 15 November. Indeed, the acting UN Special Envoy to Libya Stephanie Williams reported on 15 November that the LPDF talks came to an end without its delegates appointing a new list of Presidential Council (PC) members or leadership for a unity government to lead a fourth transitional phase, as intended. Pack recounts the interferences faced by this dialogue initiative, among which allegations of bribery and tensions regarding its legitimacy. He writes,

It has come under significant criticism for the allegedly "opaque" manner in which delegates were selected and the legal and popular legitimacy of not only its attendees, but any outcome reached by them. Moreover, the absence of perceived legitimacy as a process not derived from either the international community, the U.N., Libyan law, or popular Libyan sentiment — now combined with claims of bribery — will make it extremely difficult for the U.N. to generate buy-in on the ground should the online sessions reach any conclusions.

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