By Khaled Jabbar
TUNIS, Oct 18 (KUNA) -- UN Secretary-General's Special Representative and head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) Martin Kobler said on Tuesday the political agreement reached by Libyan parties in Skhirat, Morocco, has not failed but there are only obstacles impeding implementation.
Kobler said in an exclusive interview to KUNA that all Libya forces and groups should sit at the negotiating table in order to resolve the Libyan crisis, while calling for forming a single Libyan army led by the Presidency Council and involving all military blocs.
He added that US airstrikes have contributed to cutting down the size of the so-called Islamic State (IS), urging Libya's neighboring countries to respect the ban on weapons exports and to help in resolving the crisis.
On the country's situation since the downfall of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, he admitted that the situation in Libya has been getting worse since 2014.
He insisted that the Skhirat Political Agreement, which was signed in 2015, still holds, and Libya has ever since seen positive developments, primarily a presidency council in Tripoli and wide international support to this war-torn Arab country.
But, he regretted that the national unity government cannot work with all its capacity due to its failure to get legislative backing from the country's parliament in Tobruk, in addition to falling oil production.
The UN envoy emphasized that there should be a strong political will to wipe out all obstacles impeding the implementation of the UN-brokered Libyan Political Agreement in Skhirat, Morocco.
On Libya's neighbors, Kobler said they have major interests with Libya so they should help in finding a solution to the Libyan crisis, mentioning in particular Egypt, Algeria, Niger and Chad.
He noted that Libya's neighboring countries will meet in Niger on October 19th to discuss main common problems and issues such as growing terrorism and illegal immigration.
Libya has been plagued by factional fighting since the 2011 uprising against Muammar Gaddafi's regime, with the situation continuing to deteriorate in recent months amid significant political fragmentation and violence. (end) ksj.mt