Peace dialogue returns in Libya
The United Nations officially announced the return of face-to-face talks inside Libya, in the city of Ghadames. This is the first time in 18 months that both sides, the Government of National Accord (GNA), led by Fayez Sarraj, and the National Liberation Army (LNA), led by Marshal Khalifa Haftar, have come face to face within the country.
The meeting is expected to last three days, from this Monday to Wednesday, to discuss implementing and monitoring the cease-fire reached last month between the two parties.
Representatives of the 5+5 Joint Military Commission and Acting Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Libya Stephanie Williams were present at Monday's meeting. "This round of talks comes after the signing of a ceasefire agreement by both delegations on 23 October in Geneva. Participants will initiate discussions on the implementation of the ceasefire agreement, including through the establishment of sub-committees, as well as on a monitoring and verification mechanism," the UN mission to Libya (UNSMIL) explained in a statement on Sunday.
"The aim is to consolidate the ceasefire and make progress in setting up various committees to speed up the agreements" with a view to the larger meeting scheduled for November 9 in Tunisia, according to UN sources consulted by the EFE news agency.
"The idea is to stabilise the country in order to relaunch a political process that will enable elections to be held and a new unity government to be formed", an Arab diplomat who is taking part in the current peace effort told Efe.
Before starting the round in Ghadames, Williams met the vice-president of the GNA's Presidential Council, Ahmed Mai'tig, with whom he analysed the steps needed to break the deadlock and put the Libyan conflict on the path to a political solution.
The city chosen for the talks was Ghadames, located some 465 km southwest of Tripoli, far from the power bases of both sides. According to official sources in the city, designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986, both delegations were received by the mayor and members of the city council, as well as by a representation of local tribal notables and elders.
This will be the fourth location chosen to attempt to put an end to the Libyan conflict, following the negotiations held in Geneva, which enabled both sides to agree on a fragile ceasefire; the meeting in the Egyptian coastal city of Hurgada, which led to an agreement to stabilise the battle front; and the talks in the Moroccan city of Bouznika, which were concerned with maintaining the ceasefire and opening negotiations between the parliament of Tobruk and the GNA.
Since a NATO-backed uprising defeated Libyan leader Muammar al-Qadhafi, Libya has been shaken by violence. Since then, the country has been dominated by armed groups, divided by local conflicts between two sides: the UN-run Tripoli Government of National Accord (GNA), supported by Turkey, led by Prime Minister Sarraj, and a rival administration in the east of the Haftar-affiliated nation, backed by Egypt, Russia and the United Arab Emirates.
Ankara has been deeply involved in Libya's civil war since the pact signed at the end of 2019 with Sarraj's government ensuring Turkish military support and dividing up economic areas in the Mediterranean for the exploitation of hydrocarbon reserves.
The end of the oil blockade
The agreement reached in Geneva also put an end to the more than eight months of blockade of oil installations, which are in the hands of the militias that support the LNA.
The pro-Haftar militias blocked the oil installations and forced the National Oil Corporation - Libya (NOC) to decree "force majeure" in February, at the height of the offensive of the militias affiliated with the Government of National Accord supported by the UN in Tripoli (GNA) against Haftar's forces, which had been besieging the capital since April 2019.
Supported by Turkey and Syrian mercenaries sent from Ankara, the GNA militia managed to recover a big part of the lost territory and to make the Haftar militia retreat to the axis formed by the coastal city of Sirte and the oasis of Al-Jufrah.
The "force majeure state" not only sunk Libya's oil industry below 100,000 barrels per day of crude oil; it also exacerbated the power, natural gas and water cuts the country has suffered since 2011. In Gaddafi's time, Libya produced about 1.8 million barrels per day.
Since the end of the oil blockade achieved in the last few weeks, activity has recovered in all Libyan ports and oilfields, allowing daily production to rise, which the NOC intends to reach the million barrel per day quota by early December.