Saturday, June 24, 2017

Name of head of Libyan unity government's state council appears on terror list

The Defence and National Security Committee of the eastern-based House of Representatives has issued a terrorism list that includes 75 lawmakers, politicians, military officers, clerics, activists, and journalists.

While not everyone would agree that all on the list are terrorists, they all are foes of the commander of the HoR military the Libyan National Army (LNA) Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar. A prominent member of the rival UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) Abdul-Rahman Al-Sawihili who heads the GNA's High Council of State was on the list. The Libya Observer describes Sawihili as an advocate of reconciliation with the HoR. Some time ago Sawihili met with the head of the HoR Ageela Saleh in Rome, a supposedly breakthrough meeting, but it appears that any attempt to amend the Libyan Political Agreement may be in jeopardy as the HoR can hardly negotiate with anyone they deem a terrorist one would think. Sawihili is identified as one of the commanders of the Qatar-funded Libya Dawn Operation.
The terror list includes 9 entities including several Shura Councils, Alnabaa/Tanasuh TVs, Libya Shield Forces, and also senior leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, and Libyan Fighting Group. The Muslim Brotherhood support the GNA and are represented on its Presidential Council. Those on the list are all said to have links to Qatar. The Committee urged the foreign ministry of the HoR to forward the list to KSA, UAE, Egypt and Bahrain to to add to their own list of terrorists.
Tensions have been further aggravated by an HoR threat to arrest the GNA education minister Olman Abdul Jalil if he ventured into territory controlled by the HoR. The situation is further complicated by the reported release of the second son of Gadaffi, Saif. While some groups celebrated the news of Saif's release others condemned the release including authorities in Zintan itself where he had been imprisoned. In other centers such as the southern city of Sebha celebrations were reported.
Spokesperson for Khalifa Haftar and his Dignity Operation, Ahmed al-Mismari said on TV that Said is now free as per the HoR amnesty law:"He is outside Zintan city now and he can take part in any political process if no legal hindrances existed to obstruct that." A recent tweetremarks: "The much talked about Libya's HoR amnesty law excludes murder and embezzlement of public funds". The issue of Saif's release is further discussed on the appended video..

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