Tripoli peace deal masks deep ‘rift’

EU gives 46m euros to Italy

CAIRO/TRIPOLI, July 29, (Agencies): Standing beside French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris this week, Khalifa Haftar, the most powerful military leader in eastern Libya, was smiling when he shook on a deal with the country’s prime minister for a ceasefire and Spring elections.

But hours later and away from the diplomatic stage, Haftar exposed the reality of deep fractures in Libya’s political landscape, saying any ceasefire was limited, he actually had no interest in elections and Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj’s power-sharing council was in the grip of terrorists.

Keen to expand the French role in ending Libya’s crisis, Macron had applauded the moment as a powerful act for peace among the country’s rival armed factions who have skirmished over the oil-producing desert state since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Getting the rivals together for only the second time may have been an achievement. But Haftar’s subsequent remarks were a reality check on the complexities of uniting Libya’s fractious players and delivering on the ground after years of failed Western efforts to end the crisis. The Paris deal was meant to revive a stalled UNbrokered deal to end the chaos in the OPEC state that has allowed Islamist militants and people smugglers safe haven, risking regional instability and opening up a flow of illegal migrants across the Mediterranean.

al-Serraj

Excluded

Yet Paris excluded key stakeholders, left major differences about Haftar’s role to resolve later and, said Middle East analysts, risked emboldening Haftar further in his military campaign by appearing to bolster his international legitimacy over rivals.

Libya’s war is on multiple fronts. Haftar has been battling in the east against an alliance of Islamist militants and ex-rebels in Benghazi and carrying out air strikes on armed groups in Derna.

Clashes among rival brigades sometimes break out over private feuds, but this year, heavy shelling and fighting has erupted several times between forces allied to a previous government and brigades backing Serraj. Haftar had rejected Serraj’s UN-backed presidential council, even saying some members belonged to al-Qaeda.

The commander brands most opponents Islamist militants to be defeated as his self-styled Libyan National Army gains ground backed by powerful allies: Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the United Arab Emirates and Russia.

“The ceasefire is just with moderate parties and youths who have some misdemeanors, we’re in contact with them,” he told France24 Arabic. “I do not care about elections. I care about the future of Libya as a stable and civil state.”

Past attempts to negotiate peace in Libya have been undone by splits within each faction, who are often loose alliances of convenience among brigades of former rebels more loyal to cities, regions or tribes than to the idea of a Libyan nation.

EU gives 46 million euros to Italy:

The European Union gave 46 million euros ($54 million) to Italy on Friday to help it protect Libya’s northern and southern borders, part of the bloc’s efforts to stem arrival of African migrants across the Mediterranean.

Nearly 95,000 people reached Italy this year, embarking on smugglers’ dinghies from the shores of the lawless Libya.

Rome plans to send navy vessels to Libyan waters next month to combat human trafficking, as well as looking to strengthen Libya’s southern border, which many migrants cross on their way.

The EU has already deployed its mission further north in the Mediterranean and donated 90 million euros to improving living conditions for migrants stranded in Libya, as well as helping them get back home further south in Africa, to dissuade them from daring the deadly sea passage to arrive in the bloc.

It is supporting the UN-recognised government of Fayez Seraj in Tripoli, as well as training and equipping his coast guard to have it intersect migrants and put them back on shore. The bloc is also trying to step back deportations of those who still make it to Europe, but fail to win asylum.

Italy OKs naval support:

Italy on Friday approved sending Italian naval ships to help the Libyan coast guard combat migrant trafficking following a request by the North African nation.

The measure is part of efforts to stanch the flow of hundreds of thousands of migrants who are smuggled out of Libya across the Mediterranean Sea to Europe each year by traffickers using unseaworthy boats.

Premier Paolo Gentiloni, who is under increasing pressure to manage their arrivals in Italy after being rescued at sea, said the initiative to help Libya patrol its shores “can give a significant contribution to reinforcing Libyan sovereignty. It is not an operation that we take against Libya sovereignty.”

Details about the operation, including the rules of engagement, were not disclosed following the Cabinet’s approval, but Gentiloni said Italy would “not be sending a huge fleet or air squadrons.”

Warned

Human Rights Watch warned, however, that the Italian action could amount to a naval blockade that “could expose migrants and asylum seekers to even greater abuse.”

“Given the horrible treatment of migrants in Libya, it is difficult to imagine how any European government could disembark anyone there, or hand anyone over to Libyan authorities, while also protecting their rights,” Judith Sunderland, the associate Europe director at HRW, said in a statement.

Libya denies accord:

Libya’s UN-backed unity government chief has denied that an agreement has been struck with Rome to deploy Italian vessels in Libyan waters to combat human trafficking.

Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj “denies having asked Italy to send naval vessels into Libya’s territorial waters ... or fighter planes into Libyan airspace”, his Government of National Accord (GNA) said in a statement late on Thursday.

“Such allegations ... are without any foundation,” Sarraj was quoted as saying in the statement. “Libya’s national sovereignty is a red line that nobody must cross.”