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LIBYA-CONFLICT-DIPLOMACY
Italy’s Libya talks lay bare deep divisions
TRIPOLI, Nov 16, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Italy’s Libya talks this week laid bare
deep divisions between the key power brokers, threatening attempts to resolve
the country’s ongoing crisis, analysts say.
Two days of meetings in the Sicilian capital Palermo saw some delegates
refuse to sit side by side, while a meeting held on the sidelines sparked a
diplomatic spat.
“The dynamics between the four Libyan delegations attending the Palermo
conference regrettably show that the rifts are still very deep,” said Claudia
Gazzini, a Libya analyst at International Crisis Group.
Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar showed up, only to snub the main conference
and organise separate talks with international leaders.
Such a move was “a slap in the face to the Libyan politicians at the
conference”, said Gazzini.
Haftar, whose self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) holds much of eastern
Libya, held a meeting with representatives of Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia, France
and Russia.
One of his main rivals, UN-backed Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, also
attended the “informal talks”, but Qatar and Turkey were not invited.
Their exclusion prompted Ankara to pull out of the main conference in
protest.
LNA spokesman Ahmed al-Mesmari later accused Turkey and Qatar of travelling
to Palermo “to protect the interests of the terrorist groups which they are
supporting in Libya”.
Khaled Saleh el-Kuafi, a professor at the University of Benghazi, said the
outcome “illustrated the extent of the crisis, the divisions in Libya and the
fragility of the situation”.
Haftar “succeeded in being the star of the conference” by refusing to meet
some of his rivals and sidelining Turkey and Qatar,” he added.
– Rivalry within Europe –
The Palermo talks followed a Paris meeting at which Libyan leaders agreed
to prepare for elections this December. Such a timeline was widely viewed as
unrealistic, however, and preparations for polls have now been pushed back to
2019.
For Khaled al-Montasser, a professor at the University of Tripoli,
international meetings cannot succeed “while the international parties are
putting the Libyans under pressure and while they put forward solutions to
the crisis which suit themselves and them alone”.
It should be up to the Libyans, he said, to “agree on the subjects that
they must discuss”.
But, as Montasser noted, the Libyan leaders themselves are “not ready to
accept each other and to tolerate differences of opinion”.
Just as in May, the top Libyan invitees to Palermo were Haftar, Sarraj, who
heads the Government of National Accord in Tripoli, the eastern parliament’s
speaker Aguila Salah and Khaled al-Mechri, speaker of a Tripoli-based upper
chamber.
But the Italy talks were not really focused on improving relations between
the rivals, according to Libyan analyst Emad Badi.
It was instead “an attempt by Italy to both react to the French initiative
and to reposition itself as a power broker”, he said.
Despite the conference being viewed as a failure by numerous analysts, some
have underlined the importance of meetings organised by the United Nations a
few hours before the formal talks opened.
Those discussions focused on economic and security issues in Libya, where
residents have seen their currency’s value plummet and endured years of
violence.
Weeks of clashes in September between rival militias in the capital Tripoli
killed at least 117 people and wounded more than 400, prompting Sarraj’s
government to introduce reforms.
The UN’s Libya envoy, Ghassan Salame, this week welcomed the participants’
backing for the new measures and their “unanimous support” for a national
conference early next year.
The 2019 talks are intended to give Libyans a chance to spell out their
vision for the future, with elections slated for a few months later.
However, “numerous Libyans are still not certain of the format and aims of
that conference,” said Crisis Group’s Gazzini.
BSS/AFP/MRI/0905 hrs