TRIPOLI, Libya

Libya’s Presidency Council has denounced the passage of a national reconciliation law by parliament as “politicized.”

On Tuesday, the East Libya-based parliament passed a law for national reconciliation drafted by a parliamentary committee while it ignored another draft crafted by the Tripoli-based Presidency Council.

In a statement released late Wednesday, council member Abdullah al-Lafi said the passage of the law by the assembly “complicated the situation.”

He underlined the importance of “avoiding unilateral decisions that undermine national partnership and negatively affect the country's security and stability."

He called for abiding by the 2021 political agreement “as a legitimate basis for organizing the work of political institutions and coordinating their powers to avoid conflicts and imposing a fait accompli."

In September 2021, Libya’s Presidency Council launched an initiative to achieve national reconciliation in Libya after years of conflict since the fall of the Muammar Gaddafi regime in 2011.

Lafi said the success of national reconciliation “requires the cooperation of all parties to establish justice and civil peace."

In August 2024, Parliament Speaker Aguila Saleh was tasked by the assembly with drafting a law for national reconciliation in Libya.

In November of the same year, Mohamed Menfi, who heads Libya’s Presidency Council, called for the assembly to pass the national reconciliation bill sent by the council “without any amendments.”

Since Gaddafi’s fall, oil-rich Libya has remained divided into two parts. One is governed by the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord, which enjoys international recognition, and the other by Benghazi-based military commander Khalifa Haftar.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara