Panafrican News Agency

Arab League Summit discusses the Libya issue, interests of regional powers

Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - The Libyan issue will be high on the agenda of the 31st Summit of the League of Arab States to be hosted from 1-2 November by Algiers, an official source told PANA here Sunday.

Algeria is very involved in the search for a solution to the Libyan crisis by mediating between the Libyan parties to the conflict.

This role is bitterly contested by other regional powers such as Egypt, Turkey and Morocco, to the point of taking hostage any possibility of a political settlement, and whose individual interests take precedence over those of Libyans.

Since January 2020, Algeria has undertaken, under the leadership of President Abdelmajid Tebboune, to present, at the Berlin Conference, a mediation initiative between the Libyan parties to reproach the points of view of the belligerents to reach a solution to the dual political-military crisis that has shaken the country for over a decade.

Despite attempts to bring the Libyan parties together in Algeria, this initiative of the Algerian president has not been successful, given the foreign interference that is so prevalent in Libya, which is thwarting any attempt to find a political settlement.

It should be recalled that at the time, Libya was used as a proxy war ground by several countries that accentuated the chaos in the country and led to the degradation of its economy, and the deterioration of the living conditions of its citizens.

These have deepened the division of its institutions, placing the country on the verge of splitting that could tip it into a civil war at any moment.

Countries such as Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Russia and France have supported militarily and politically the head of the Libyan army in the east of the country, Marshal Khalifa Haftar, to the point of pushing him to venture into a risky attack against the capital and the western region in April 2019 before being stopped on the outskirts of the Libyan capital after a stinging military defeat.

To this, we must add the complicit green light of the administration of the US president, Donald Trump, to Haftar in addition to the proxy war waged by France and Italy, the former colonial power of Libya, to impose their influence on the country.

It took the support of Qatar and Turkey in particular to the government of the National Accord to reverse the military balance and to inflict a military setback on Hafter's troops and their allies.

It was thanks to the resumption of the political process against the backdrop of the military defeat of Haftar's camp that the Berlin Conference mechanism made it possible, through the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum under the auspices of the United Nations, to reach a roadmap establishing a political transition.

But the agreed organization of general elections on 24 December last year, could not hold due to political factors and shortcomings related to the electoral laws, in the opinion of the Libyan Electoral Commission.

This situation has brought the country back to square one with a new political impasse, resulting in the existence of two competing governments after the designation by Parliament of a government led by Prime Minister Fathi Bachagha, in addition to that of the government of national unity of Prime Minister Abdelhamid Al-Dbaiba, who has decided to hand over power only to an elected authority.

With this new situation, foreign interference has increased but the regional actors have changed. Thus, Turkey, which became with Russia the main actors on the scene in Libya before Moscow became embroiled in the war in Ukraine, is in fierce competition with Egypt.

Despite a rapprochement in the recent past on the Libyan issue, Ankara and Cairo seem to be returning to open and direct hostilities fuelled not only by the renewed interest in energy resources for economic considerations, but also by political motivations due to the alignment of each of the two countries with the governments in place in Libya.

The recent agreement on hydrocarbon exploration in the eastern Mediterranean between the government of national unity in Libya and the Turkish government has rekindled hostilities between Turkey and Egypt, which has turned to strike, Cyprus and France to forge an alliance to counterbalance Ankara's influence.

Thus, the Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sameh Choukry, said that "the exploratory dialogue sessions with Turkey have stopped after two rounds, because there has been no change in Turkey's practices in Libya.

In an interview with the Al-Arabiya news channel, he called on "the parties to the Libyan conflict to respect the Skhirat agreement", calling on "the UN and the relevant authorities to deal with the legitimate Libyan government".

The political stalemate in Libya has fuelled disagreements within the UN Security Council, favouring the return of foreign interference, to the point of paralyzing the UN executive body and preventing the appointment of a new UN Special Envoy to Libya for nine months.

It was only at the beginning of September that the Senegalese Abdoulaye Bathily was confirmed as Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) to begin mediation efforts between the Libyan parties in mid-October.

The extension of UNSMIL'S mandate for a period of one year, after five technical extensions of three months, is a positive sign to promote UN mediation in Libya.

During his briefing last Monday before the Security Council, the first since he took office, Mr. Bathily said he wanted to take advantage of the Arab League Summit in Algiers to promote the search for a solution in Libya.

In this context, Algeria's permanent representative to the Arab League, Abdelhamid Chbira, said that the Libyan file would be among the points included in the discussions of the permanent delegates' meetings, which he described as "fruitful" in preparation for the Arab Summit in Algiers.

In statements to journalists on the sidelines of the preparatory meetings of the Arab Summit in Algeria, taken up by the Libyan press, Chbira added that his country was making great efforts to settle the situation in Libya, whether at the bilateral level or with neighbouring, African or international countries, as well as within the Arab League.

He recalled Algeria's efforts to settle the internal situation and the promotion of dialogue between the parties to the crisis in Libya, with the aim of organizing presidential and legislative elections "without foreign interference".

The Algerian diplomat explained that his country was also pressing for "the security, unity and territorial integrity of Libya, while work is underway to find a way out as soon as possible in order to organize free and fair elections to get out of the prolonged crisis that has cost the Libyan people significant human and material losses".

The Algerian delegate, whose country received Wednesday the rotating presidency of the Arab League from Tunisia, referred to the slogan "reunification", which aims to achieve a minimum level of solidarity between the countries concerned.

It should be noted that the Algerian president, Abdelmajid Tebboune, announced that he recognized in Libya only the international legitimacy that deals with the government of national unity, which implies the non-recognition of the government designated by the Libyan parliament and places Algeria in the opposite camp with Egypt, which supports the rival government.

This situation is likely to hamper Algiers' efforts to find a solution to the Libyan crisis at the Arab Summit because of the restrictions that may be imposed by the manoeuvres that Cairo may deploy to torpedo all the decisions and resolutions that will be taken in this regard.

Moreover, Morocco, present at the Arab Summit in Algiers with the historic arrival of Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita, could also have an influence on the search for a solution to the Libyan crisis, given its involvement in mediation between the Libyan parties through the Skhirat and Bouznika agreements.

Recently, Rabat relaunched its mediation in Libya hosting the latest meeting between the Speaker of Parliament Aguila Saleh and the chairman of the High Council of State, Khaled Al-Mechri who have committed to power the regal posts of the Libyan state with a view to their unification by early 2023 and to work towards the organization of parliamentary and presidential elections.

This agreement was, however, opposed by Libyan Prime Minister Abdelhamid Al-Dbaiba, who considered it a new path leading to a new stage of transition, whereas the ultimate goal is to move towards elections in accordance with Libyans' aspirations.

The issue of foreign interference, in particular the positions of Egypt and Turkey in Libya, has prompted the reaction of Libyan activists who believe that it is necessary to put an end to the suffering of Libyans.

Thus, the Libyan political activist, Ali Moujahid, wrote in a post on his Facebook page that: "Resolution No. 2656 for the year 2022 adopted by the Security Council at its session held on 28 October 2022 regarding Libya will have no effect and meaning like all previous resolutions, and the Libyan people will continue to pay the bills with the blood of their children and their wealth, unless the Council takes strong and palpable measures to stop foreign interference".

-0- PANA BY/IS/BBA/RA 30Oct2022