Russia's participation in the Palermo conference on Libyan settlement is important to secure the Libyan people's right for a fair presidential election, Dr. Aref Ali Nayed, the chairman of the Libya Institute for Advanced Studies and a presidential candidate, told Sputnik in an interview.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st November, 2018) Russia's participation in the Palermo conference on Libyan settlement is important to secure the Libyan people's right for a fair presidential election, Dr. Aref Ali Nayed, the chairman of the Libya Institute for Advanced Studies and a presidential candidate, told Sputnik in an interview.The conference will take place in Sicily on November 12-13. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart, Donald Trump, have been invited, but the Kremlin announced on Wednesday that the Russian president was not scheduled to attend the conference. Nayed, who visited Moscow to attend events dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the foundation of the Oriental Studies Institute at the Russian academy of Sciences, met with Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and other officials on Wednesday. Nayed and Bogdanov have already had two meetings before, in September to discuss the recent flareup of fighting in Tripoli as well as the Palermo conference, and in Abu Dhabi before that.
"It is very important to get elected leadership, and we seek Russia's support in that regard and we feel that Russia's participation in Palermo is very important to protect that principle and to build on the Paris accord ... It is important that Russia is committed to the high-level representation, and I encourage Russian colleagues not only to participate, but to make sure that there are firm about protecting the Libyan people's right to vote in a fair election on time," Nayed said.
Nayed is the only one to have officially announced the intention to run in elections so far, but reports have also emerged that Saif Gaddafi, the son of late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who had been detained for six years by militia before being released in June 2017, was also planning to run for president.
The presidential candidate noted that the conference in Palermo should focus on concrete mechanisms for the upcoming presidential vote in Libya, as the vote itself had been agreed upon at the Paris meeting in May.
"What we should be discussing in Palermo is how to make sure that this promise is delivered, when precisely it can be delivered, how it can be delivered, the mechanisms - the monitoring mechanisms and the implementation of the results mechanisms - and the guarantees that the international community must give the Libyan people to help them out to conduct their fair and balanced election the results of which are fully implemented," Nayed said.
In May, representatives of the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA), headquartered in Tripoli, on one side, and the authorities operating in the east of the country on the other, agreed that the country would hold parliamentary and presidential elections on December 10. The sides also agreed to work on uniting their security forces.
Libya has been torn apart by conflict since its long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown in 2011. The eastern part of the country is governed by the parliament, backed by the Libyan National Army (LNA) and located in Tobruk. The UN-backed GNA is headed by Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj.
