Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Internationally recognized Libyan government refuses UN demand to stop bombing.

Abdullah al-Thinni, prime minister of the internationally and UN recognized government, told the UN envoy Bernardino Leon that Tripoli is held by extremists and bombing will stop only if they surrender.

There were several earlier attacks on Mitiga airport, the sole functioning airport in Tripoli. Prime Minister Al-Thinni refused to call a halt to the strikes even when asked to do so by the UN envoy trying to arrange talks and an end to the fighting. He refused to halt the attacks saying that Tripoli was held by extremists and attacks would halt only when they surrendered. Far from stopping actions that clearly prevent dialogue he added conditions to participating in any talks:Thinni laid down new conditions for talks with the rival government, asking the Tripoli administration to recognize the elected parliament first, the website said. Armed groups such as Dawn also had to withdraw from the capital. Neither, the Reuters article that reports on Thinni's conditions, nor recent UN statements, nor a recent statement by a number of nations on the situation in Libya dare mention the fact that the Libyan Supreme Court decided on November 6 that that June elections were unconstitutional, and that the Tobruk government should be dissolved.
Now the Tobruk government not only wants the rival government to recognize it but also to withdraw the militia from Tripoli that protects it from the attacks of CIA-linked Khalifa Haftar. Don't expect the international community or the UN to do anything about Tobruk's defiance of the UN demands or its clear rejection of dialogue.
The UN statement is as if from another planet: There is agreement among the various Libyan actors that the way forward is to hold an inclusive political dialogue to tackle the crisis with a view to end the fighting and alleviate the suffering of the civilian population, ensure the political transition process is back on track and safeguard Libya's sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity. In this regard and after consultation with the Libyan parties, UNSMIL will call a new round of political dialogue to be held on 09 December 2014. Apparently, the UN did not notice Al-Thinni's rejection of the demand to stop bombing or the impossible conditions put on joining any dialogue. Nor did they notice that the rival Tripoli government of Omar al-Hasi also now rejects dialogue and said that it might not even allow Leon to enter territory it controls: "We were open for dialogue, but are forced into a confrontation and war and we will be victorious,"
The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, the U.S. Secretary of State, the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and the UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs issued a statement that mimics the bizarre claims of the UN statement that the parties are all for dialogue: They also welcomed the positive reactions of the parties and urged them to participate constructively and without any conditions in this process, which represents the most viable path for Libya to chart its own future. They strongly endorsed the UN's efforts to work with key stakeholders to build a national unity government for Libya, and committed themselves to support such a government. They strongly condemned recent violence, including air strikes, which undermines the prospects for a negotiated settlement, and highlighted the terrible suffering for all in Libya caused by the continued violence. What positive reactions of the parties? The bombings, which have been condemned, the demand that Tripoli recognize a government that the Supreme Court has demanded be dissolved, the continued fighting in Benghazi and other areas? The threat that Leon cannot even set foot in Tripoli? Of course all this is part of the rhetorical anodyne nonsense that is a specialty of whomever writes this stuff for the UN.
 The reality appears in a final sentence giving the appropriate warning: If key stakeholders fail to participate in the UN-led process, to consider additional measures to protect Libya's unity, stability and prosperity, and to counter expanding terrorist threats to Libya and the region. So Haftar is home free. If he does not enter the dialogue nor the other key players the Tripoli government or the Libya Dawn militias then a whole host of western countries are ready to take further measures to counter "expanding terrorist threats to Libya and the region." This is the whole purpose of Haftar and his Operation Dignity. The UN dialogue is a non-starter and simply a smoke screen to mask the real agenda, a new front on the war against terrorism. As part of this there will be renewed news about the Islamic State which now replaces Al Qaeda as the new threat to world peace. There are numerous reports of groups swearing allegiance to the IS and even having training camps More reports are here or here or here. Meanwhile Haftar bombs his own people and claims that they are Islamic terrorists. This was the narrative of Gadaffi. There is more sense in the appended discussion on a bus going to Tripoli than you will find anywhere in the mainstream press.

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