14 bodies found in Benghazi all shot in the head execution style

A doctor in the Benghazi Medical Centre reported that the hospital had received the bodies of 14 people who had been killed execution-style. Martin Kobler, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) called the killings a war crime.

The unidentified bodies were found Thursday and brought to the hospital by the Red Crescent. An anonymous doctor said that the bodies all bore shots to the head. Kobler in a tweet said he was "utterly shocked and dismayed by the summary execution of a number of people in Benghazi." He called for an investigation of the murders and for the perpetrators to be brought to justice.

As France24 reports:Benghazi has seen bloody battles for more than two years between forces loyal to the internationally-recognised parliament and armed groups including the jihadist Islamic State group. Forces loyal to General Khalifa Haftar have regained several districts of Benghazi in recent months but have yet to retake the whole city.No details at all on Haftar's Operation Dignity which started in May of 2014 with attacks against two Islamist bases in Benghazi but was followed up by his allies burning the parliament in Tripoli.

While the House of Representatives (HoR) and the government of Abdullah al_Thinni were at one time internationally-recognized, at present, the Al-Thinni government and HoR are not internationally recognized. However by the Libyan Political Agreement (LPA), the HoR is required to vote confidence in the GNA and amend the constitutional declaration. The UN and most nations recognize the UN-backed GNA as the sole legitimate Libyan government. Perhaps, since French special forces are obviously dealing with Haftar and the HoR, France24 considers the HoR "internationally recognized". The HoR mandate ran out last October and was illegally extended. Although the HoR was elected it was with a turnout of about 18 percent or less. The election was ruled unconstitutional by the Libyan Constitutional Court back in November 2014, but no one but the Salvation Government, the Tripoli-based rival to the HoR, paid much attention. Since the GNA moved to Tripoli the Salvation Government associated with the former General National Congress(GNC) has ceased to exist, at least as having any power.

The 14 bodies were found in an area controlled by Haftar's forces, raising concerns that his forces have been responsible. While Kobler demands an investigation it is unlikely to happen. Back in early June, 12 prisoners who were ordered released from a jail in Tripoli were found murdered. Amnesty International and some others claim that the twelve were killed before they left the jail. There was to be an immediate investigation. The issue has just dropped off the media radar. The prisoners were former Gadaffi troops. No one has yet been charged.

Haftar's forces have been previously condemned by the UN for attacking civilian targets in the city of Derna. There were threats of prosecutions for war crimes. Nothing has happened. The city is now run by the Derna Shura Council or Jihadists whom Haftar considers as terrorists, even though they were instrumental in driving the Islamic State from Derna. Haftar's air force attacked them even when IS had left, consequently hitting a number of civilian targets.

The jihadist forces in Benghazi have also been accused of war crimes in attacking medical facilities and using civilians as shields. Both pro-Haftar and anti-Haftar forces appear to have committed war crimes but so far neither international authorities nor authorities from the GNA or rival HoR government have brought anyone to face justice for any war crimes.

Libyan National Army's bombing of Libyan city of Derna condemned by many

Some time ago the Libya city of Derna and adjacent areas were cleared of all Islamic State fighters. This was mostly the result of actions by the fighters of the Shura Council of Derna Jihadists.

The Libyan National Army (LNA) under commander in chief General Khalifa Haftar has also claimed credit for clearing the Islamic State out of the surrounding areas but it is not clear how much they helped. Even after the Islamic State had retreated Haftar's forces continued airstrikes against Derna. Haftar considers the Shura Council to be allied with Al Qaeda even though they deny any such connection. He has carried on the attacks since he consider the Shura Council to be radical Islamists and his enemy. He says the attacks are part of what he calls his Operation Volcano, part of Operation Dignity. Operation DIgnity was begun back on May 16, 2014, with attacks on Islamist militia bases in Benghazi but then involved the burning of the Libyan parliament as shown on the appended video.

Haftar considers any Islamists opposed to him as radical Islamists to be defeated, including many of the militia loyal to the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA). Haftar rejects the GNA and supports the rival Tobruk-based House of Representatives. (HoR). The HoR is required to vote confidence in the GNA according to the terms of the Libyan Political Agreement (LPA). It would then become the legislature of the GNA. However numerous meetings called to hold a vote have either been disrupted or failed to have a quorum. A meeting just last Monday lacked a quorum.

The attacks on Derna by Haftar are happening at the same time as he is supposed to be marching to liberate Sirte, as he announced some three weeks ago. However, the only forces fighting Sirte are those of the GNA in the west, mostly militia from Misrata, and in the east forces of the Petroleum Facilities Guard headed by Ibrahim Jodhran, an opponent of Haftar and supporter of the GNA government. The Islamic State territory is now just a few square kilometers in the city of Sirte. Until there were a number of civilian casualties both the GNA and Martin Kobler, Special Representative of the Secretary General(SRSG) kept quiet but now Kobler has spoken out condemning the civilian casualties. In a tweet he says: Deeply saddened to hear of civilian casualties from airstrikes #Derna, 2 women & 2 child died. Densely populated areas must not be targetedNote that he fails to condemn the airstrikes themselves. Others go much further.

Military veteran and army officers in Derna have condemned what they describe as Dignity Operation airstrikes on the city that left a number of civilians dead. Colonel Yahya Al-Osta said on Sunday that the airstrikes that killed civilians, including children were carried out by armed militias and mercenaries who have no links to the army. The planes no doubt are from the air force which is headed by an ally of Haftar. Al-Osta called Haftar a criminal and said that his militia groups are a far cry from military values and principles when they start targeting civilians and populated areas, He said: "We want police and army that protect civilians, not attacking them". Graphic photos of some of those killed can be found if you search for the hashtag #Derna on twitter.

Among those killed were a father and his son on his way to another town to cash out their salaries. In another strike a woman and her two children were killed. A tweet shows the location with no military target. Another tweet says: A kids play area in the city #Derna was attacked from LNA ..At least a kid is killed through these air attack. Another tweet reports: "Former eastern defence zone commander, Suleiman Mahmoud appeals to pilots under Hefter's command to refuse orders targeting Derna civilians." Some strikes are aimed at certain companies as shown in the damage to a Turkish company's buildings. Fortunately, much machinery is OK.

UN not yet considering sanctions against any Libyans

Martin Kobler, the Special Representative of the Secretary General (SRSG) in Libya said the UN is not yet looking at sanctions against those the UN views as sabotaging the peace process.

The UN may not be looking at sanctions because it cannot guarantee the sanctions it suggests would be approved by the UN, as China or Russia could veto the suggestions, as has happened before.

The UN may be getting the EU to do the sanctioning. This was done earlier when the EU named both Khalifa Haftar and his Air Force chief to be subject to sanctions. Nothing ever happened though and Haftar went on to gain the support of the Arab League, Egypt, the UAE, and Jordan among others. This time around the sanctioned officials are the President and Prime Minister of the Tripoli-based General National Congress (GNC). As I argued in an earlier article it is Haftar and his supporters in the HoR who are the immediate threat to the GNA and the process since they are blocking the necessary confidence vote in the GNA that is required before its term begins.

At a press conference in Tunis, Kobler explained that he was trying to broaden support to have as many opponents as possible back the GNA. He noted that the entire international community backed the LPA and the only people who were opposing it were "some forces in Libya." The forces include the two rival parliaments and their associated military forces. However, Haftar might agree providing he remains commander-in-chief of the LNA.

According to the Libya Herald, Kobler insisted that the HoR could not make changes at this point to the LPA, signed December 17 in Skhirat and also approved by the UN Security Council later. The Libya Herald sums up the dilemma facing Kobler: Amendments to the LPA could only be made by the HoR acting “in consensus” with the planned State Council, he said. But “the State Council does not yet exist,” he stated. Although not saying so in as many words, he indicated that the only way that the deal could be changed was for the HoR to first vote for it it in its entirety.Kobler called on the HoR to sign the agreement but noted this could not happen until the Presidency Council of the GNA submitted a new list of names for the Government of National Accord. The HoR had rejected the 32 member list previously submitted as too large.

Kobler was sharply critical of the GNC regime for denying him landing rights at several airports in western Libya. The GNC refused to continue in the dialogue when Kobler would not consider their suggested amendments to the LPA . The GNC did not approve the LPA. While Kobler says talks with militia in Tripoli were working, what has happened is that Kobler, following the same strategy as his predecessor Leon, has taken advantage of a division within the militia who supported the GNC and especially those in the Misrata area. Kobler and Leon managed to have a number of them agree to support the GNA. Kobler would love for the GNA to gain control over the Libyan Central Bank to cut off salaries to those militia who oppose the GNA.. The headquarters of the Bank and also the National Oil Company are in Tripoli and Kobler wants the GNA to gain control of both. This is probably the main reason he insists that the GNA should be in Tripoli as soon as possible. It seems almost inevitable that any attempt to locate the GNA in Tripoli will result in even more conflict in the city and area. Kobler and his military adviser must know this.

Perhaps the plan is to have the Libyan National Army intervene, headed by Haftar. He has wanted to dislodge the GNC and the Libya Dawn militia from Tripoli for ages. He would gladly help the UN to establish the GNA in Tripoli, but at least one condition would be that he remain as commander in chief of the Libyan National Army. Should this happen it would provoke an exodus of most GNC-related members of the GNA. The group is already up in arms by the HoR demand that Section 8 of the LPA be deleted. As the Herald points out, Article 8 of the LPA supplementary provisions reads: All powers of the senior military, civil and security posts stipulated in the Libyan legislations and laws in force shall be transferred to the Presidency Council of the Council of Ministers immediately upon signing this Agreement.

As of December 17 when the LPA was signed at Skhirat, the Presidency Council was designated to carry out Haftar's function. Should not Prime Minister designate Ferraj be sanctioned for not carrying out his duties since he is head of the Presidency Council?And perhaps SRSG in Libya, Martin Kobler, should be sanctioned too since he has done nothing to ensure this provision was carried out. He has also watched while the LPA deadline for announcing the GNA was violated and now he is standing by as the deadline passes today for the vote of confidence in the GNA to have taken place.

Not surprisingly, the GNC members who signed the LPA at Skhirat completely reject the suggested deletion of section 8. As the Libya Herald reports:In a statement released late Monday and signed by Dialogue Committee head Salah Makhzoum, the GNC signatories referred to article 60 of the LPA which stipulates that all sides cannot take any actions or decisions contrary to the LPA. The statement said that the LPA must be accepted as a complete package and any rejection of any of its parts would be contrary to the agreement and to the UNSC Resolution 2259.The group said such an amendment would be a threat to the whole LPA. Somehow the group failed to notice that section in the additional provisions has already been violated for over a month. Kobler has said absolutely nothing critical about the role of Haftar and his insistence he remain as commander of the LNA. Because of his demand, the HoR failed to vote confidence in the GNA. For some reason, Haftar is not only untouchable, but he is unmentionable as well, at least as far as Kobler is concerned.

Meeting of HoR in Libya suspended after fight with no vote on Libya Political Agreement

- Both the internationally-recognized House of Representatives(HoR) in Tobruk and the rival General National Congress(GNC) have yet to vote on the latest draft of the UN-sponsored Libyan Political Agreement(LPA).

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There were no announcements by the UN or major media outlets as to when either of the two rival governments would meet to discuss and vote on the LPA even though the new Special Envoy to Libya, Martin Kobler, has been urging the two sides to sign the agreement since he took office over a week ago. Countries such as France have also been urging signing of the agreement to create a unified government to fight the Islamic State and no doubt to agree to foreign military intervention in exchange for aid and recognition. It is now clear Kobler exerted sufficient pressure on the two governments that they are again forced to go through a process neither government wants, and in the case of the HoR, could possibly cause a military coup. However, so far I have found only one outlet, the usually pro-HoR Libya Herald, that has described what happened in the House of Representative yesterday.

The Herald claims the HoR met yesterday to discuss the LPA and the associated Government of National Accord(GNA), but the session was suspended. The Herald claims the pro-HoR Libyan news agency LANA reported the suspension followed upon a heated discussion about the plan that ended up with a fight in the parliament. You would think at least a few news outlets might find a fight in the HoR parliament worth reporting, if not the substance and background of the debate. The president of the HoR, Ageela Gwaider, has conveniently been away for the last while so no meeting could be held. Perhaps Kobler managed somehow to persuade Gwaider that he could delay no longer. The results are worse divisions, no vote and no word yet when the suspended meeting will convene.

The GNC was scheduled to meet on the LPA and GNA today but there appear to be no reports yet on that meeting. A spokesperson for the GNC called the present LPA document defective. The GNC earlier asked for amendments but then-envoy Leon said that was impossible before amending the document himself. Kobler also insists there can be no changes to the text of the LPA or even of those already named to the GNA, names to which both sides have objected.

Before the HoR meeting yesterday, 92 HoR members signed a statement backing the GNA, according to the Herald's description. They accused the HoR president, Gwaider, of violating the HoR rules through preventing them from meeting. The Herald continues: . However, they also effectively said that there could be no changes in the leadership of the Libyan National Army (LNA) (in other words General Khalifa Hafter) and that the names announced by former UN special envoy Bernardino Leon for the proposed presidency council needed modifications.In other words, the group do not support the GNA as described in the UN-sponsored agreement presented to them. The LPA designates senior members of the GNA government to fill the role of commander in chief that Haftar now fills. This group is in effect rejecting the LPA because they know that Haftar will never accept being turfed from his position.

The group did agree to what is called the Fezzan initiative, which accepts the final LPA draft rather than the earlier July 11 draft that gave virtually no power to the GNC and which they had soundly rejected. Some members still insist the earlier July draft should be voted on. The most recent draft does give some limited power to the GNC through a Council composed of GNC members. However the Fezzan initiative is not in accord with the Kobler and Leon draft either. It rejects the names Kobler and Leon suggest for prime minister, deputy prime ministers, and senior ministers, who make up the senior executive power of the GNA. The Fezzzan initiative also says the Libyan National Army is fighting against terrorism and so cannot be subject to negotiations in relation to any political agreement. Perhaps this should be called the Khalifa Haftar amendment, or at least the red line for the HoR accepting any LPA. To the other side and others as well, for Haftar to continue on will never be accepted. To call passage of the modified LPA as approving the accord is ludicrous. Yet the HoR members cannot even agree on this weakened version of an LPA. The suspension of the meeting has angered many members, the same sort of reaction occurred when no vote took place when Leon had demanded a vote on the LPA. In this case, history repeats itself in a very short time span. One member said the suspension was sabotage by HoR president Salah Gwaider.

Leon had named three deputy ministers but also increased the number to five, with one from the south and another from the east. He also added another minister to the top presidency council. Kobler apparently has asked both the HoR and the GNC to appoint names they want appointed to the extra posts.

Not surprisingly there are moves to hold a dialogue between rival Libyan groups without the UN. There is an article in the Libya Observer by an HoR official criticizing Kobler and the UN. The most recent press release from the UN praises the recent ceasefire negotiated with the help of Qatar between the southern Tebu and Tuareg tribes, but ends up urging again that the two rival governments sign on to the most recent draft of the LPA. At most what they can expect is approval of some crucially modified version of the LPA certain to be rejected by the GNC. Even that may not be possible.