Libyan Government of National Accord announces security arrangements in Tripoli complete

The UN-brokered Libyan Government of National Accord together with its Presidential Council has announced that security arrangements are complete and the GNA is ready to move to Tripoli to resume work there, rather than its current location, Tunis.

The announcement was an official statement by the GNA. The statement added that the GNA was mindful of "saving Libyan blood" and of moving to Tripoli in a "safe and peaceful" manner. However, there are already reports of gunfire and clashes. Militia supporting the GNA have said they will use force to ensure that the GNA is able to come to Tripoli. Opposition militia have said they will resist any such attempt. In these circumstances to say that the GNA is mindful of "saving Libyan blood" probably means that if the GNA thinks that it cannot establish itself, violence or not, it will not come. However, the GNA claimed some time ago that it would be in Tripoli within a few days. It may lose whatever credibility it has left if it does not come soon.

The problems that the GNA faces naturally cannot be caused by the GNA itself and failure to gain the support of either rival government. It is all the fault of the "bad guys." Here is the morality play tale:It accused a ‘’minority headed’’ by Tripoli’s de facto administration and its self-appointed so called prime minister ‘’Khalifa Ghwell’’ of ‘’terrorizing’’ people in Tripoli and putting ‘’obstructions’’ and impediments before the GNA ‘’preventing’’ it from commencing its duties.These bad guys closed off aviation navigation causing "numerous humanitarian crisis for Libyans stranded in airports." These included "ill, injured, children and elderly." These are clear transgressions of "citizen's rights and of international conventions" Of course, after this moral indignation it is not proper to note that the airspace was opened again at 2 a.m. the same day. Continuing in the same vein of fatuous moralizing, the GNA urges citizens and the international community to reject the behavior of obstructing groups and to "avoid fighting and bloodshed" in the capital. No self-criticism or the slightest hint that it is the GNA and its insistence that it enter Tripoli without the support of either rival government has anything to do with what is happening. How could it? The GNA is one of the good guys? The Libya Observer predicts the GNA move is likely to provoke violence and a war in Tripoli.

There is no mention in the GNA statement of the internationally recognized House of Representatives (HoR) which also opposes the GNA move to Tripoli. The HoR is supposed to meet today and tomorrow to vote on the GNA and an amendment to the Constitutional Declaration of 2011. The last four times the HoR tried to hold a meeting and vote there was no quorum. Today is now the fifth time. Often the lack of a quorum is blamed on president of the HoR, Ageela Saleh, who, it is claimed, is often away on foreign trips so there can be no meeting. However, this time Saleh specifically issued an appeal for HoR members to be present today. An alleged majority signed a statement to say they support the GNA after a vote was not taken at a meeting of the HoR some time back. This letter has been used by the GNA to claim that it already has the confidence of the HoR. This claim is made in spite of the fact that the HoR position is that a formal vote is needed and that the GNA is not legal until there is an amendment to the Constitutional Declaration of 2011 incorporating the GNA into the constitution. No matter, the UN Security Council and many countries support the continuing illegal operations of the GNA. The press will never notice. Khalifa Haftar, the commander in chief of the Libyan Nation Army of the HoR is adamantly opposed to the militia who are supporting the GNA move to Tripoli. Cyrenaica, the eastern part of Libya, may find itself increasingly at odds with the GNA and could eventually separate with Haftar ruling as head of a military council as he has often recommended.