Libyan PM Serraj blames ‘foreign powers’ for instability

(dpa/NAN) Foreign powers are actively working against the stabilisation of Libya, the country’s UN-backed Prime Minister Fayez Serraj said Wednesday.

Libya remains riven by violence seven years after the NATO-backed ouster of its former dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

A UN envoy brokered a ceasefire last week after deadly militia clashes in Tripoli.

The country is not pacified because “serious and long-term solutions have not been found to solve very deep internal divisions,” Serraj told Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper.

`But there are also foreign powers working against us for their own interests.

“We know that some militias are surreptitiously armed from abroad,” he said.

When asked to name the countries, Serraj said: “They know well [who they are]. And they do not want a sovereign Libya.”

The country has two rival governments: Serraj’s administration, based in Tripoli, and another in the eastern city of Tobruk.

There are also dozens of militia groups vying for power.

With Libya being is a major port of departure for Europe-bound migrants, Serraj said “every extra day of guerrilla warfare works in favour of migrant smugglers and criminal activities across the country.”

He called on a key political rival from eastern Libya, Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, “to work together for common objectives and against unilateral initiatives,” and warned against a military takeover of Tripoli.

Serraj also said Libya cannot hold elections until security is restored.

He said: “you cannot vote with instability in the streets.

“It is also necessary that everybody accepts the result from the ballot  box.”