UN-brokered negotiations involving representatives of both the GNC and the HoR, which lasted for months in the Moroccan town of Skhirat, eventually produced the Libyan Political Agreement which was signed on December 17, 2015, and appeared to have produced a new unity government - the Government of National Accord (GNA) - with Fayez Sarraj, a businessman with little political experience, and in exile in Tunisia, as prime minister. The international community has been scrambling for a political solution to the Libyan crisis for several reasons: a working, western-friendly, central government is essential to lead the fight against Daesh and operate the essential machinery of the country’s economy - the National Oil Corporation (NOC) and the Central Bank of Libya (CBL) in addition, the anarchic situation on the coastline is facilitating the lucrative work of the people smugglers (which Daesh has largely seized for itself) and has obvious security implications for Europe, just 300km across the Mediterranean. Under pressure in Syria and Iraq, Daesh (the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) has found fertile new pastures in Libya’s chaos and now controls most of the coastal region - which is also abundant in oil. The HoR is backed by General Khalifa Haftar’s ‘Libyan National Army’ Haftar is a divisive, CIA-trained military man with lofty ambitions of his own. Meanwhile the HoR parliament relocated to a 1970s hotel in Tobruk, in the far east of the country where Islamist militias hold sway, and announced it was ‘business as usual’. The internationally recognised, elected government, known as The House of Representatives (HoR) was forced to flee Tripoli in August 2014 when Libya Dawn, a key pro-Islamist militia umbrella, seized the airport and ensconced an Islamist-led Government of National Congress (GNC), headed by Khalifa Ghweil. Until April 7, Libya already had two rival governments. The political situation is equally chaotic and just became more so. As a result, around 2,000 heavily-armed militias are operating across the country, battling for resources and influence Libya’s entire population is only six million. Furthermore, having taken up arms to rid themselves of the dictator, hundreds of thousands of men are now reluctant to put them down… or certainly not until there is some semblance of consensus, peace and order. There was no plan for post-Gaddafi governance and little understanding of the complexities of the Libyan social order. The first foreign intervention in Libya, in 2011, had only the removal of former leader Muammar Gaddafi and securing the country’s oil as aims. Libya now has three competing governments - up from two a month ago - thanks to further interference from foreign powers.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |