Excerpts from SRSG Martin Kobler Press Conference after a two-day meeting of the Libyan Political Dialogue in Tunis, Tunisia, 11 December 2015

We had two days of very intense discussions with the Libyan Political Dialogue, and I was very happy to have the members of the Libyan Political Dialogue around the table. And I felt a big consensus; I felt that there is urgency and that the clock is ticking for the sake of peace, security and prosperity in Libya.

The urgency I felt around the table is based on several factors, one is the growing danger of terrorism all members mentioned, the expansion of Daesh and other terrorists groups, now it is time to act. This was the feeling of the Libyan Political Dialogue’s members in the last two days.

The second factor is the very dire humanitarian situation, Benghazi was mentioned several times and it was an agreement around the table it is time to tackle it and the only way to do it is to have a legitimate government in place, the Government of National Accord.

There was a wide consensus that only through rapid signature of the Libyan political agreement the country can be brought back to unity.

You heard what was announced by Mr. Shoueib and Mr. Makhzoum just now, the Libyan political dialogue agreed on a target date for the signature on the 16th of December.

I myself will brief the Security Council of the United Nations tonight, to convey this agreement of the Libyan Political Dialogue to the Security Council, because the signature of this agreement must be followed by a strong resolution of the Security Council.

We are then moving to Rome to an international conference co-chaired by Italy and the United States.

And we had this meetings also partly together with the ambassadors to Libya who are here in Tunis, and it was also important that the members of the political dialogue have the chance to express what they expect from the international community in the future.

I am today very happy to have this agreement around the table.

I am convinced that human suffering has to end in Libya and those who agreed to sign; they put the national interests and the interests of the Libyan people above the personal interests. I personally admire the courage and the wisdom of those around the table, to go to sign this agreement which was negotiated for so long time.

Many problems remain, but this has to be solved by the new government in place, that’s what governments are there for. That’s why the implementation phase will start with many open problems and the United Nations is always ready to support the new government of national accord.