Widespread electricity shortages, economic turmoil and security flare-ups are fuelling public frustration with Libya's slow political transition, the head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) told the Security Council. Hanna Serwaa Tetteh, Special Representative of the Secretary-General, presented the Secretary-General's latest report on UNSMIL's work, covering 1 April to 28 July 2026, and warned that Libya's challenges "extend beyond political disagreements" and directly affect the state's capacity to deliver basic services, manage resources responsibly and ensure security.
Tetteh said that a UNSMIL-facilitated three-track road map, launched a year ago, has advanced on two of its main pillars: establishing constitutional and legal frameworks for elections, and holding an inclusive Structured Dialogue on governance. A "Small Convening" — also known as the "4+4 committee" — has met seven times since its inaugural session on 29 April and is "reaching its conclusion, having addressed some of the most contentious issues in the legal and constitutional framework of elections." The group is next scheduled to meet on 20 August, with remaining steps centring on agreeing the mechanism for endorsing its outcomes. The Structured Dialogue concluded successfully in June, with recommendations covering governance, economic management, security, reconciliation and human rights.
Despite that progress, extensive electricity blackouts in July and August disrupted power and water supplies for hundreds of thousands of people, following fuel shortages and declining gas supplies. Tetteh described a "striking paradox": according to data from Libya's National Oil Corporation, approximately $1 billion is spent monthly on fuel imports, yet electricity systems remain vulnerable to shortages. She cited "evidence of large-scale diversion of subsidized fuel in the electricity and security sectors" and called it "an unacceptable abuse of public resources."
On security, Tetteh voiced concern over heavy clashes among armed groups along Libya's western coast and strongly condemned the assassination of Fawzi Mansuri, Director of Military Intelligence for the Libyan National Army, in a reported car bombing. She also flagged growing instances of hate speech and misinformation targeting migrants and women, including a widely circulated video showing the public flogging of a woman in Sabha.
Civil society briefer Nissa Bek told the Council that protests had erupted across Tripoli and other cities during a heatwave that reached 50°C, and that the electricity crisis is "an expression of a much deeper loss of confidence in the ability of the State to provide basic services." She noted that Libya, described as one of Africa's most energy-rich countries, still cannot reliably provide electricity for its own citizens — "a question of governance," she stressed. Bek called on the UN to incorporate climate and environmental risk analysis into its Libya work and urged protection of critical civilian infrastructure alongside support for locally led peacebuilding efforts.
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