Zawiya gathering: big words, little action

What so-called the “National Libyan Gathering Conference” achieved in Zawiya appears to be little more than words.

Held in the city of Zawiya, the conference produced a lengthy statement filled with familiar rhetoric and broad promises, yet offered no practical measures or binding commitments.

Delegates declared they would await the forthcoming briefing by UN Special Representative Hanna Serwaa Tetteh on 21 August 2025 before adopting a “decisive” stance. While they reiterated the long-standing call for a clear roadmap to unify state institutions, there was no practical mechanism put forward to enforce such demands, aside from vague references to “organised peaceful escalation” — without any detail as to what that might entail.

The event announced the creation of a follow-up committee to engage with the UN mission, international actors, and local leaders — an approach reminiscent of similar bodies formed in the past, which have generally failed to alter Libya’s political course or influence the positions of key external stakeholders.

It also called for the Government of National Unity to immediately become a caretaker administration once the new roadmap is announced, limiting its remit to basic daily governance and prohibiting it from entering into strategic agreements or long-term commitments. However, no explanation was given as to how such restrictions could be enforced in practice without real political leverage.

Although the statement rejected placing foreign interests above national priorities and warned against the dangers of renewed conflict, it largely recycled language heard many times before about unity, sovereignty, and peace. Such words, however, have repeatedly failed to stop political division, foreign interference, or the risk of further instability.

For many observers, the so-called National Libyan Gathering Conference, despite some firm language, risks becoming yet another in a long line of meetings that speak loudly but deliver little — leaving Libya’s crisis much where it began.