For some time there has been a political crisis in
Libya, with one government in Tripoli supported by Libya Dawn militia
among others, and the other internationally-recognized government in
Tobruk supported by CIA-linked General Khalifa Haftar. The opposing
militia have been clashing ever since last May, when Haftar announced
Operation Dignity, and tried to dissolve the General National Council
but only managed to burn down the parliament.
The UN, through the untiring efforts of UN special envoy to Libya,
Bernadino Leon, has long been attempting to bring the feuding groups
together in a dialogue. Earlier in January some talks were finally
successful although neither representatives of the Tripoli government
nor the Libya Dawn militias participated. After the talks, Libya Dawn
announced a unilateral ceasefire followed two days later by the Tobruk
government also announcing a ceasefire, but with the caveat that
terrorists would continue to be pursued. Haftar continued his attacks on
militia associated with the Shura Council of Benghazi Revolutionaries, a
group that had ruled most of Benghazi for some time until Haftar's
recent offensive against them. Haftar's militia also seized the Benghazi
branch of the Central Bank of Libya.
The United Nations Support Mission In Libya (UNSML) recently issued a
report
after two days of discussion on Monday and Tuesday of this week. The
parties are simply referred to as "participants" with no mention that
some were from the Tobruk government. Others were from areas held by the
Tripoli government and some were elected in the elections last June,
but have not been attending the House of Representatives meetings. The
UN statement does not mention the Libyan Supreme Court ruling on
November 6th last year declaring the elections last June were
unconstitutional and the House of Representatives should be dissolved.
There is no mention in the statement that no representatives of the
Tripoli government attended nor the main militia of that government
Libya Dawn. Leaving out crucial items such as this is almost de rigueur
in UN statements.
The dialogue included discussion of the formation of a "consensual
national unity" government that would ensure unity of the country and
state institutions. Discussions also encompassed the mandate of the
government, how decisions would be made, and how members would be
selected. The group also discussed what guarantees the international
community might give to carry out the tasks and in dealing with those
obstructing the political and security process. Haftar has many times
obstructed the process, by bombing Tripoli, and carrying out his
Operation Dignity but this has been supported by the Tobruk government.
The most that has happened is UN complaints about his actions. It is
quite unlikely that any action will be taken against Haftar since he is a
champion of ridding Libya of Islamists.
The participants want to speed up the process to reach a consensus
on the national unity government. This would include a permanent
ceasefire as well as monitoring mechanisms.
The participants mentioned
withdrawal of armed groups from cities particularly the capital. Do the
armed forces of the Tobruk government count as "armed groups" or only
militia. Haftar's militia is now regarded as absorbed into the Tobruk
government armed forces and Haftar has been "called up" out of
retirement to serve. The statement called on all sides in the conflict
to abide by the agreement to stop military operations announced by the
parties — again no mention of who actually announced the ceasefire. Nor
is there any mention of the Tobruk government's exception for action
pursuing terrorists. Haftar continued his battle in Benghazi and even
seized the Benghazi branch of Libya's Central Bank. None of this is
worth mentioning. Of course the participants were unanimous in rejecting
terrorism and even mentioned a specific action, the attack on a hotel
in Tripoli. There are specific items apparently that can be mentioned.
The attack the statement notes caused Libyan and foreign casualties. No
details are given, this would be against UN protocol, which is to
provide the least amount of information possible. The Islamic State is
not mentioned as claiming responsibility for the attack. There were
10 killed, one who was French and also an American. This is probably what makes it worth mentioning. The
600 casualties caused by Haftar's Operation Dignity offensive in Benghazi are not worth a mention.
Another meeting involving representatives of municipal councils of both
towns and cities was held last Wednesday and is reported on
here.
Further meetings are planned that would include representatives of
armed groups, political parties and societal and tribal forces. The
statement concludes with this bromide:
The Mission emphasizes that the dialogue is an inclusive and transparent process driven by the Libyan national interest.
It is not clear what is supposed to be transparent about the process.
The participants in the dialogue process agreed to transfer talks to
Libya. The Tripoli government, the General National Council, announced
that it would attend the next talks. After Haftar attacked the Central
Bank in Benghazi they had announced they would not attend. They are now
prepared to meet in any Libyan city.
However, they set out
conditions for participation:
Limiting the delegates to the talks;
No dialogue with “wanted people”;
Compliance with the Supreme Court ruling of 6 October, 2014; and
Respect for the Constitutional Declaration.
Congress also indicated that it would not accept anything that had
already been decided in Geneva because its representatives had not been
there.
The reference to "wanted people" is probably intended to refer to
Khalifa Haftar. There was a warrant issued for his arrest that was still
in force when the present Tobruk Prime Minister, Abdullah al-Thinni was
Prime Minister under the GNC. A court also issued another warrant for
his arrest after Haftar bombed a Tripoli airport. The GNC accepts the
Supreme Court decision, which would make the Tobruk government
illegitimate — although not according to the defenders of the House of
Representatives interpretation, as relayed by the Libya Herald. The
Libya Herald has the date wrong, the ruling was on
November 6.
Neither government recognizes the legitimacy of the other and it was
never expected that they would dialogue directly. The GNC people could
attend the dialogue with the discussion back and forth through other
participants. Even Iranian TV with its Irish expert gets on the Islamic
State big deal bandwagon as part of the appended video.
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