LEON: Well, I have no evidence of any of these actions you mentioned. So, we cannot work on the basis of comments or allegations not supported with evidence. So let me go beyond any concrete action that could be related to any specific country. Let me just state a general principle which is that Libyans should try to find solutions for their problems by themselves and that international interventions are not very helpful in this regard. We think that we should support Libyans in finding these solutions but that this purpose, this endeavor, would be better served if there was no intervention from foreign actors.
QUESTION: A lot of Libyans are asking themselves, will there be a time when the UN will say enough is enough, Libya is being ruled by the gun and we need to do something about that, in the sense of at the very least what has been proposed impose sanctions on militia heads across the country, those ruling in Libya, and when would that be?
LEON: when you are a national in any country you know that when you go to a court, represent a case you know at the same time you need to be patient, because usually this kind of legal matters take time. And it is the same, probably even more complicated. When we are talking about international legality, about international instruments, especially such delicate instruments as sanctions.
What I mean is that this is not something that is going to happen one day all of a sudden. This is a process, which is not going to start. It has already started. The United Nations machinery, with the support of member states, is already working, is already assessing the situation, not only the situation of what is going in the last days, the situation that this country has been suffering in the last 4-5 months. An these institutions, these bodies inside the United Nations, are working very seriously.
It takes time. But they always work and they always deliver, so let’s leave them do their work. Let’s support them. Because this is our mandate to support their work. UNSMIL, our mission, is not directly involved, but of course it has to support this work. It is very important. Our main mandate is to support the political process but I am sure at the end of the day these bodies , the sanctions committee, the Security Council, will deliver, will decide on the people both using force and especially ones violating the ceasefire but the ones who use force, indiscriminate force especially force against civilians in the last months and will equally identify the people undermining the political process.
QUESTION: Is there a chance to involve other parties into this dialogue instead of HoR members such as the revolutionaries? Mufti believes you that you are taking the side of Haftar, and since you met with him, have you discussed this matter with him?
LEON: Of course, I think it is very important that members of civilian society, political actors, people who are not directly in the HoR support the political dialogue. This is an endavour for all the Libyans. We will only be successful if there is a huge support from the Libyan society, from all ranks of the Libyan society.