UN envoy Tetteh calls Libya deal a milestone but warns of spoilers and disinformation

Centre · 1Hanna Tetteh, the UN special envoy for Libya and head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), told the Security Council on Wednesday 14 October that "since my last briefing, we have seen encouraging progress on the UNSMIL-facilitated political process." 1 Centre · 1She said the parties signed the Smaller Convening Agreement on 30 August after four months of deliberations and that it "has received broad support from national and international actors." 1 Centre · 1Anadolu Agency reported that she described the deal as marking a break in the country's prolonged political deadlock. 1

Centre · 1Tetteh said elections cannot be separated from wider institutional problems, including the fragmentation of the judiciary. 1 Centre · 1She called the security situation "fragile" but welcomed "positive steps toward enhanced military cooperation between Eastern and Western military and security institutions", and said stronger state presence and border management in the south could help stability. 1 Centre · 1She warned of "misinformation, disinformation, hate speech and incitement" aimed at refugees, migrants, humanitarian actors and UN personnel, and said continued rejection of engagement by some parties risks "hardening political positions" and justifying unilateral actions that could undermine the process or lead to violence. 1

Centre · 1Tetteh asked the council to back the parties with "positive incentives and guarantees" and to "hold spoilers accountable", adding that the path to a stable, unified and prosperous Libya "remains long, but our destination remains within reach." 1 Right · 1In an opinion piece in Arab News, Stimson Center fellow Hafed Al-Ghwell describes the 30 August deal, also called the 4+4 agreement, as one between the Government of National Unity and the eastern-based General Command, reached after meetings in Rome and seven rounds of talks in Tunis, and setting a 24-month path to presidential and legislative elections. 2 Right · 1He writes that the eastern-based House of Representatives endorsed the agreement on 14 September, but the High Council of State rejected it on 5 October, arguing it bypassed constitutional requirements and institutional consensus. 2

Right · 1The column says drone attacks in August and September hit oil storage, electricity and water infrastructure in western Libya, including a refinery at Zawiya, and that the Government of National Unity announced the arrest of five Libyan and foreign nationals, linking the alleged cell to Saddam Haftar, deputy commander of the Libyan National Army; these are allegations, and the column cites The Guardian's 3 October report of GNU sources making them. 2 Right · 1Al-Ghwell also reports Tetteh's figure that 30-40 percent of subsidized fuel is diverted into smuggling, with losses estimated above $4.4 billion, and argues that the agreement's durability depends on credible investigations, institutional legitimacy and security-sector reform. 2