In a letter to Ban, Libyan Parliament warns of suing the UN

Libyan House of Representatives

22/08/2016 

H.E. Ban Ki Moon

Secretary General of the UN

New York

Excellency,

Further to my letter of 7 July 2016, I would like to draw your attention that the premature and unjustifiable recognition by the UN Security Council in its resolution 2259 (2015) of the Government of National Accord, before it is constituted and approved, does not give the right to the UN Secretariat to violate the Libyan Constitution and the Charter of the UN, by imposing a group of individuals on the Libyan people, under the name of the GNA to replace the legitimate government, and inviting them to represent Libya at the UN meetings.

Thousands o f Libyans sacrificed their lives to get rid o f the dictatorship and establish the rule of law. The Libyans will not accept any new dictatorship even if it comes through the UN Secretariat who chose to trample the Libyan constitutional declaration and violate the Libyan political agreement to accommodate the wish o f certain countries and their interests.

The UN is well aware that the so called GNA does not exist legally and physically. What exists is a Presidential Council designated who has not yet took oath before the Parliament, never met in full membership, and never took any decision by consensus among its nine members as provided for in the Political Agreement. Furthermore the Presidential Council is obliged by article 2 of the Governing Principles of the PA to the full commitment to the Constitutional Declaration which still gives all executive and legislative powers to the House of Representatives. This situation will continue to prevail until the Political Agreement is integrated into the Constitutional Declaration pursuant to the dispositions of the Political agreement itself.

The Presidential Council can never be the Government, nor can it be the head of a non-existing entity. The eighteen proposed ministers have not yet been approved by the House of Representatives. Four of them withdrew their names from the proposed government, while those who started working as acting ministers have no legal bases to act as ministers.

The president and the members of the Presidential Council are a group of individuals agreed upon by the participants in the Libyan political dialogue to lead, in a consensual way, a government of national accord to be formed latter, not to qe themselves the Government ofNational Accord. Thus no internal or external entity can pretend that they are the legitimate government of Libya, or they have the right to represent Libya in International Fora. Their decisions cannot be legitimate even if taken by consensus.

We agree with all that the international support to any government of national accord is needed, but it should not be an alternative to the legal and constitutional framework in effect.

The last months proved that the United Nations' unconditional and unjustifiable support to the incomplete Presidential Council has encouraged them to violate the Political Agreement and submit to the will of the armed groups in Tripoli which led to more deterioration of the security situation and the living conditions of the Libyan citizens.

Actions taken by the UN Secretariat with regard to the representation of Libya in the Organization's meetings make it part of the Libyan problem, and could complicate further the Libyan political scene, contribute to prolong the division and impede all initiatives to resolve the Libyan crisis. I f this stubborn attitude o f the UN persists the House of Representatives will be obliged to sue the United Nations before the International Court of Justice for violating the United Nations Charter and the Libyan Constitution as well as the Libyan sovereignty.

Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of my highest considerations.

Agila Saleh Issa

President of the House of Representatives

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