France pledges €1m to back December elections in Libya

France Wednesday committed itself to support with €1 million December elections in Libya as Paris deepens its foothold in the oil-rich African country.

The financial promise was made by French Ambassador to Libya, Ms. Béatrice Le Fraper du Hellen through an agreement with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Resident Representative, Gerardo Noto, Libya Observer reports.

The pledge will support UNDP’s ‘Promoting Elections for the People of Libya’ project.

With the new announcement, France’s contribution to the project now reaches €1,850,000.

Libya will hold in December this year general elections to elect a central government following years of political conflict that has ravaged the country after former leader Muammar Gaddafi was toppled and killed in NATO-backed revolution in 2011.

In February, UN-backed Libyan Political Dialogue Forum made up of 75 delegates from all regions of the country agreed to hold elections in December.

France also last month re-opened its embassy in Tripoli in a major support for the interim central administration elected by the forum.