British and US foreign minister support elections in Libya in 2018
British foreign minister Boris Johnson said on Thursday he believed that Libya’s plans to work towards elections in 2018 were probably “the right timescale”.
Answering a question: “Would it be premature to hold the elections within a year? Johnson said; “I happen to think that could be about the right timescale,” in a joint news conference with visiting U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
“It is very important however, that you don’t do it too fast and that you get the political groundwork done first,” he added.
“There has to be a constitution, there has to be an accepted basis for those elections to take place.” H also said.
The US foreign minister also said that they are with the Libyan-led solution for the current crisis and the UNSMIL’s head Ghassan Salame has the US full support for his efforts to bring peace to the country.
“We don’t want to see Libya a place where terrorism grows and where ISIS reemerges.” He explained.
In July, rival leaders pledged in Paris to work towards elections in 2018 and a conditional ceasefire. U.N. Libya envoy Ghassan Salame said constitutional and electoral laws would have to be written to ensure any vote brought lasting change.
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