Meeting urges larger role for Libyan municipalities

More than 60 mayors, from the west and south of Libya met in Tripoli on Sunday to discuss the existing law concerning local governance. The group demanded more power to provide services to local residents.

The group also discussed the role that municipalities could play in national reconciliation and in rebuilding the police and army. The theme slogan of the conference was "Libya gathers us". The MP of the UN-brokered government Faiez Serraj attended as did Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) Martin Kobler. First Deputy President of the High Council of State Saleh Makhzoum also was present.

As a tweet explains the meeting was under the auspices of a ministry of the Government of National Accord (GNA): First Meeting of Libyan Municipalities held in Tripoli under auspices of GNA Local Government Ministry. There were no representatives from the east where Haftar, with the agreement of the House of Representatives government, has been replacing elected officials including mayors in Benghazi, Al Jufra and Ajdabiya by military personnel. The mayor of Tobruk asked to be replaced.

There were concerns expressed about the dismissals raised at the conference. Significantly there were no representatives from the east at the conference. The mayors appear to be only from areas loyal to the GNA. Kobler said that the dismissals would be discussed at the conference in Paris to be held on Monday, with participants from Egypt, Qatar, UAE, and Turkey. The conference is designed to see how the cause of acheiving the necessary unity in Libya can be advanced. Some of the issues were discussed in a recent Digital Journal article. PM Serraj said at a press conference after the meeting of the municipalities: “We will not allow jumping on municipalities under any security or political reason, the mayors are directly elected by the people." It has taken Kobler and Ferraj some time before commenting on Haftar's mover to militarize local governments in eastern Libya. It is not clear what the UN or the GNA to do to stop Haftar or reverse the process

Kobler spoke about the meeting in a series of tweets. One said: The first meeting of municipalities of Libya was held in Tripoli on Sunday to push for a greater role in local governance. A second said: Applaud this initiative by GNA's minister of local governance to gather around 80 municipalities frm across Libya. Notice that Kobler inflates the number of municipalities present from other reports. A third tweet notices the lack of representation from the east: I'm flattered to learn that some of you crossed 100s of kms to be here. I also wished to see among you reps frm East Presumably, municipalities from the east were asked to attend but would not because it might cause difficulties with Haftar and the HoR government.

GNA State Council meets in Tripoli pretends to be GNC dissolves itself and becomes State Council after approving GNA

The State Council of the UN-brokered Government of National Accord (GNA) met today in Tripoli. It called itself the General National Congress (GNC) and then dissolved itself to be reborn the State Council of the GNA.

The usually pro-GNC Libya Observer notes that a number of members of the GNC held a meeting that they described as the first meeting of the State Supreme Council of the GNA. The Council's function is described in article 19 of the Skhirat LPA of December 17. It is mostly an advisory body. The only legislative powers in the GNA are those of the House of Representatives (HoR). The makeup of the Council is described in Annex 3 p. 26:

The State Council shall comprise one hundred and forty five (145) members who were elected during the General National Congress elections on 7 July 2012 as per the following:1. One hundred and thirty four (134) male and female members of the General National Congress who enjoy sound membership at the signing this Agreement. The Presidency of the General National Congress shall submit a list containing the names of those members.

Note that the President of the GNC is to submit the list of names for the Council. There was a slight problem. The GNC has not accepted the LPA and Sahmain the president would not send a list. The solution was to enlist former Deputy Speaker Saleh Al-Makhzoum to draw up a list. The list was accepted and the PC the UN and everyone who counts accepted the resulting group as the Council even though this violates the terms of the LPA. Makhzoum also signed on to the Skhirat agreement even though he was not authorized to do so and was not part of the GNC negotiating committee. He and a number of others in the Council have been expelled from the GNC. These are just trifling illegalities of no importance.

The Council Session with 70 members present was held at the Radisson Blu hotel in Tripoli. The actual GNC met later at the GNC headquarters in Tripoli. The Observer notes:The session, which was described also by the attendants as “the final session of the GNC, was put to effect by the second Deputy Speaker of the GNC, Saleh Al-Makhzoum, in which all of the attendants voted unanimously on amending the constitutional declaration and including the political agreement.

This is a supposed meeting of the GNC called by Al-Makhzoum who was expelled from the GNC some time ago. The president of the GNC is not even there and the meeting is in a hotel because the actual GNC will not allow them to use the GNC headquarters. The actual GNC session said the hotel meeting was illegal. They decided to send the issue of the LPA to the judiciary.

Considering that the Libya Herald is often opposed to the GNC it has a quite critical report of the meeting. The Herald mentions that the meeting was at first chaired by Makhzoum and was held in the Radisson hotel because the headquarters of the GNC was still held by Sahmain and his supporters. The Herald quote Makhzoum as saying that 94 members were there but also noted that there were only 67 who were present in the hall. The Herald describes events after the unanimous vote on the constitutional amendment and GNA:In what appeared very much as a stage-managed event, after Makhzoum announced the end of the GNC, the GNC logo behind him was removed and replaced with this of the State Council.

The Herald ends with a statement that shows the entire meeting was illegal since the HoR alone under the terms of the LPA can endorse the agreement and since it has not done so, theoretically the State Council does not exist. One could add that the HoR also needs to pass the constitutional amendment. The State Council does not have the power to pass any legislation even if it does exist. It is an advisory body. These events are bound to result in a negative reaction from the HoR.

Deputy President of the HoR, Emhemed Shouaib, reacted quickly and called on the State Council to show political wisdom. He noted that it was the HoR that needed to vote confidence in the GNA and pass the constitutional amendment: ‘‘Ladies and gentlemen attending the meeting (of the State Council in Tripoli today) tried to pre-empt time and to burn through the various stages (of the LPA) and promoted interpretations and explanations, avoiding the facts of the (Libyan Political) agreement’’. Other members of the HoR and Haftar loyalists may react less diplomatically.

Special UN envoy Leon claims two day Libya dialogue talks end in positive atmosphere

The special envoy to Libya, Bernardino Leon, who is chief facilitator of the dialogue between representatives of the 2 rival governments said recent 2-day talks were held in a positive and constructive atmosphere.

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One reason for the positive and constructive atmosphere is that one of the two rival Libyan governments, the General National Congress(GNC) based in Tripoli had no representatives at the meetings. Leon claimed that the meetings on August 27-28 built on the "immense progress"already made in the search for peace. The main progress so far seems to be that parties not associated Tripoli initialed an agreement that the GNC refuses to sign since it amended an earlier draft to remove any real power from the GNC. Leon did so without consulting with or getting the approval of the GNC. The GNC did attend recent dialogue talks in Geneva when Leon assured them amendments that the GNC proposed to the draft would be considered in the final draft. However, when the GNC group returned to Tripoli, the GNC decided that Leon's assurances were not yet sufficient to attend the latest meetings.

The GNC must be under intense pressure to join the dialogue in spite of the fact that the whole document gives total legislative power to the House of Representatives(HoR), the Tobruk-based internationally recognized government. While the HoR is slated to name the prime minister and one of the deputies, the other deputy is to be named by the GNC. The GNC is also to name a majority of an advisory council, If the GNC does not attend Leon will simply forge ahead with names presented by others.

The pressure on the GNC no doubt has successfully created divisions within the GNC. Just before the present meetings. Saleh Makhzoum the head of the GNC negotiating group resigned along with a second member. Although the GNC did not give a reason many believe that it was due to differences with GNC president Nouri Abu Sahmain over how to proceed with negotiations. The GNC used his resignation as a reason not to attend recent talks since the GNC needed to time to restructure the negotiating committee.

The next round of the dialogue will be on September 03-04 back in Geneva again at the UN offices. Leon hopes that what is now called the Libyan Political Agreement would be ready for signing a few days later. Unless the concerns of the GNC are somehow met in the September meetings it is unlikely they will sign. However, even if they do not sign, they will have at least participated in and had their input into the parts of the Agreement that involve the GNC. Perhaps, the tactical view is that this is a better outcome than staying away and letting the other side do whatever it wishes.

Leon concluded his press statement: He said now is the time for all leaders to set aside their differences and put the country’s interest first and work towards the quick establishment of the Government of National Accord, as called for in the political agreement. This government, in partnership with the international community and the overwhelming support of the Libyan people, will be able to address Libya’s problems, combat terrorism, restore stability and put the country back on the road to economic recovery.As the GNC representatives were not present the talks started late and ended early according to the Libya Herald.

Mustapha Abou Shagour from the HoR negotiators said: "Next Thursday the names will be presented and the process for selecting the prime minister and the deputies will start. The trend inside the (Tripoli-based) General National Congress, from the votes we have seen, the majority would like to be part of the dialogue and they want to participate."In spite of their earlier position that the GNC needed assurances the draft would be amended to address their concerns, even the so-called hardliners appear ready to return to the dialogue, but if no changes are made to the draft as they have demanded they may not sign any final draft.

Unless the armed forces of Tripoli and of the HoR sign on to the agreement it will be unenforceable. Neither the Libya Dawn forces of the Tripoli government nor Khalifa Haftar head of the HoR forces have signed on to the agreement. Haftar callls Libya Dawn forces terrorists and refuses to sign a ceasefire or even talk with them. Even though Leon has noted that a parallel military dialogue is necessary he fails to mention it in the last several news releases. Although named as being subject to sanctions imposed by the EU, Haftar has been offered military help by the Arab League and recently signed a military deal with Jordan. He has the support of Egypt's President Sisi. Haftar would like to be Libya's president Sisi. It remains to be seen if Leon can successfully sideline Haftar. The Libyan Political agreement as it stands would remove the position of head of the armed forces of the new unity government from Haftar. For this reason among others, Haftar rejects the agreement and has done so openly without the HoR prime minister firing him or even insisting that Haftar must accept the agreement.

Two days of Libyan peace talks take place without one rival government sending representatives

Bernardino Leon, the UN Special Envoy to Libya resumed talks on forming a Government of National Accord in Skhirat Morocco even though one of two rival governments did not show up.

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The talks are set to finalize what is now called the Libyan Political Agreement, that includes agreeing on the structure and main officials in a Government of National Accord. The GNC informed Leon that they would not attend the present round of talks. The GNC claimed that it needed to reconstruct its negotiating team after two of its members resigned. The GNC said that it was still committed to the dialogue process and would participate in the next session. Leon said that the UN Support Mission in Libya would intensify its contacts with stakeholders in the coming days to help create the final push towards peace.

A Reuters report suggests that there could be little prospect of progress without one of the main sides in the conflict present. This may not be true as the Tobruk government could discuss with other its choices for the prime minister and one deputy. The GNC could also submit names for the other deputy to be chosen by it and also its position on other issues in the annex. Leon insists that he thinks that he would be in a position to have a final agreement by Sept. 10. Delegates told the Libya Herald that the job of choosing the leaders of a new government would go on whether the GNC team was present or not. The president of the GNC had sent Leon a letter demanding that amendments suggested by the GNC be included in a final draft. Leon claims the draft cannot be amended since it has been initialed by other participants but that concerns of the GNC can be addressed during discussion of the annexes to the agreement. While the GNC rejected that route in earlier talks with Leon, it seems that it must now be reconsidering that stance as it has said that it will attend later rounds of the dialogue after it restructures it negotiating team.

This final push will no doubt include further threats against any who dare refuse to cooperate in implementing a non-agreement that only one of two rival governments accepted in the first place. There is no mention by Leon of the parallel military dialogue between forces loyal to the GNC Tripoli-based government and those of the Tobruk internationally-recognized government commanded by former CIA-asset Khalifa Haftar. Libya Dawn the main forces associated with the GNC reject the agreement. Even more ominously, Haftar also rejects the agreement even though his government accepts it. You would think this would result in an immediate firing of Hafter but any attempt to do this could result in a military coup. In fact, Haftarwould like Libya to be run by a military council. He rejects any ceasefire or negotiations with the Tripoli whom he regards as terrorists. Leon does not mention details such as this. His job is to push for formation of a unity government whose purpose is to legitimize foreign intervention in Libya.

The resignation of Saleh Makhzoum as head of the GNC delegation is reported by the Libya Herald the result of disagreement with president Nuri Abu Sahmain over the continued participation in the dialogue. The pro-GNC Libya Observer said no reason was given for the resignation although it was accepted by president Sahmain. Last week the First Deputy Speaker Abdul-Sadiq said that the GNC had decided to boycott the talks until Leon had ensured that the GNC proposed amendments would be included in the final draft. Even though the GNC decided it did not have that assurance and boycotted these talks it nevertheless claims that it will attend the next round. While all this goes on the Arab league is extending military aid to the Tobruk government and Khalifa Haftar, a subject of EU sanctions, signs a military aid agreement with Jordan. Without Haftar sidelined no political agreement is feasible but he continues on with help from Egypt, the UAE, and now Jordan.

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