In a recent piece posted on Carnegie’s @sadajournal, constitutional lawyers from Democracy Reporting International (Omar Ould Dedde O. Hammady and Michael Meyer-Resende) accurately capture the constitutional conundrum facing Libya. Unfortunately, legal issues and missed deadlines are not the most pressing problems facing Libya at the moment. Resolving legal problems presupposes venues in which informed debate can occur, rational arguments can be weighed, and agreed outcomes identified. What is urgently needed, and what the Libya SRSG Bernardino Leon is working toward, is creating the venues where Libyans can begin talking about stopping armed conflict. Increasingly Libyans at all levels, those engaging in the UNSMIL-assisted dialogue, and grass roots activists, are going to need to take pause and find ways to stop the shooting. While the Constitutional Drafting Assembly has an important role, as DRI authors point out, it must remain removed from the polarizing politics that accompany the current conflict. Its legitimacy aside, the CDA has an opportunity to present a draft a constitution that creates the legal frameworks needed for effective rule of law. But if no one can agree on which rules, then all is for naught. This is why the dialogue process must succeed among the principals engaged in the current conflict, but as importantly - also among those willing, at the community level, to support a sustainable peace.
Posted on: Sat, 20 Dec 2014 10:58:23 +0000
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