La paz libia inquieta a la Liga Árabe
The Secretary-General of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, has announced that he hopes Libya's ongoing peace efforts will lead to "a comprehensive agreement". Aboul Gheit explained that this is the only solution for reaching a transition period, with legislative and presidential elections.
Security in North Africa depends very much on peace in Libya. Gheit therefore warned of the fragility of the situation and that it could be subject to a setback at any time. Even so, like most of the international community, he remains positive: "we have witnessed a number of important developments in recent months that have contributed, cumulatively and constructively, to resolving the crisis. The parties have demonstrated their commitment to the ceasefire and to the healing of the Libyan dialogue".
He also recalled the call by the UN Secretary-General to respect the rules and procedure of the Libyan peace process. Gheit, during a ministerial meeting of the Arab League's international committee on Libya, said that "there will be no chance for success unless the continued violations of the arms embargo and the continued recruitment of military equipment and mercenaries are stopped".
The Libyan country has been divided since the 2011 Arab Spring riots. The death of Muammar al-Qadhafi marks nine years of conflict and divisions that have the Libyan population on edge. The energy, economic and health crises are weighing on citizens who have been demonstrating in the streets against the two governments since August.
Libya currently has two governments: the GNA, led by Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj, and the eastern parliament of Tobruk, created in 2014 and associated with the Libyan National Army (LNA) commanded by Marshal Khalifa Haftar.
At the beginning of September both reached an agreement on the need to reach "major commitments" to end the conflict in Libya, as they announced after the first contact in Bouznika, Morocco.
The civil war has been raging in the North African country since 2014 and has become an international war scenario in which different foreign powers with different interests on the ground are involved. Haftar's LNA is supported by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Russia and France, while the GNA receives military support from Turkey and financial support from Qatar, and has been recognised by the United Nations (UN) since 2016.
There are currently three negotiation tracks open in three different locations: in Geneva, where negotiations began in February to map out the first steps to be taken. In Morocco, Bouznika, political and structural peace pacts are being discussed. And in Egypt, Hurgada, where the steps to be taken towards a ceasefire and the agreement on military and security restructuring are being discussed.
In Bouznika, it was welcomed that the delegations from Libya's High Council of State and the Parliament in Tobruk reached a comprehensive agreement on transparent and objective criteria and mechanisms for taking up sovereign positions. These include key positions such as those of the Central Bank, the head of the Anti-Corruption Commission, the Chairman of the High Electoral Commission, the Prosecutor General and the Chairman of the Judicial Council.
The Libyan Judicial Council (JSC) yesterday expressed its rejection of the principle of an agreement reached by the two rival governments in Libya which envisages a new mechanism for the election of various official positions, in particular the head of the Supreme Court and the Attorney General.
In a statement, the highest institution of the judiciary underlines that the Council is closely following the talks taking place in the Moroccan town of Bouznika and the Egyptian town of Hurgada, and hopes that they will serve to find a way out and resolve the ongoing political conflict that has harmed the country and the citizen.
However, the Council denounces the logic of the quotas on which these dialogues are built and their results since, in its opinion, "it is not in the interests of the Libyans and of Libya, where the competences concern all its population, without discrimination between east, west and south.
That is why they oppose the understanding reached in Bouznika regarding the Judiciary and consider "that this is an interference and a violation of the sovereignty and independence of this authority", states the note issued yesterday by the Libyan SJC.
The Libyan judicial authority has been one of the three administrative entities that have remained united during the war. They were not divided and remained a symbol of the country's unity during the period of conflict. In line with this fact, the judges' government insisted that "the election of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court can only be done through consultation with this court represented by its president and general assembly".
"The position of Attorney General is chosen only after consultation with the Supreme Judicial Council, considering that judicial positions are subject to the standards required by the nature of judicial work and regulated by special laws. It is the elected parliament that assumes the authority to appoint these positions after completing consultations with the Supreme Court and the High Council of the Judiciary," he said in explaining his opposition to Morocco's talks.
The Berlin Conference has resumed this week on line and one of the topics on the table has been the peace talks in Libya which have been under way since August. The international community's concerns have increased as diplomatic talks have been paralysed by a problem of incompatible agendas.
The deputy prime minister of the GNA, Ahmed Maiteeq, for his part expressed his appreciation of the international community's efforts to facilitate open dialogue between the Libyan parties. "We welcome the final communiqué of the ministerial meeting of the conference attended by many countries concerned about Libya," Maiteeq said in a statement.
Maiteeq said he appreciated the efforts made by the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), headed by Stephanie Williams, as it "seeks to find measures to build bridges of confidence between the Libyan parties.
The deputy prime minister stressed that confidence-building measures must include practical steps to help increase Libya's capacity to provide basic services, as Guterres called for in his speech to the conference.
Maiteeq added that he appreciated the recommendations reached by the military and security delegations in Hurgada, Egypt. UNSMIL has noted that the Hurgada talks between military representatives from both sides reached important recommendations on the release of detainees, as well as the reopening of airspace and land routes for the release of prisoners. The final rumours indicate that there could be a final merger between the opposing armies in order to achieve a unity that would set an example to the Libyan citizenry.
Finally, Maiteeq expressed his commitment to the results of the Berlin Conference, stating that they have been working hard since 2018 to implement the economic reform programme aimed at unifying and developing the economic and financial institutions and modernising the oil and banking sectors.
Since the agreement was announced, oil production has increased to 290,000 barrels per day. "The resumption of oil production helps to open commercial banks in all Libyan cities, to unify the exchange rate and to unify the general state budget".
In addition, "it unifies the efforts made to tackle the COVID-19 epidemic and open airports and civil ports to facilitate the movement of passengers and goods," Maiteeq added.
The United Nations has called on the parties to the conflict in Libya to resume negotiations and not to leave the different paths that have been worked out to find a common consensus to put an end to this conflict that has been going on for nine years.
For Secretary-General Guterres, the "future of Libya is at stake" and he urged the Libyans to continue working towards a lasting ceasefire and to contribute constructively to the political dialogue facilitated by the United Nations.