Libyans discuss authority over presidential council

TRIPOLI: Libya’s main rivals met face to face on Tuesday, with Emirati mediation in Abu Dhabi, for the first time in more than a year in a bid to reach a political settlement.

The head of Libya’s Tripoli-based government, Fayez Serraj, and army commander Khalifa Haftar, who is aligned with the Tobruk parliament in the east, began direct negotiations, Serraj’s media adviser Hassanal Houni said by phone.

In March 2016, the UN-backed National Accord unity government led by Serraj took over in Tripoli amid international hopes it would reestablish stability in the country.

But it has been unable to gain recognition from the elected parliament based in the eastern city of Tobruk, which supports Haftar.

Both men were expected to discuss army-related amendments to an agreement signed by the Libyan factions in Morocco in December 2015, according to Abu Bakr Baeira, a member of the Tobruk-based parliament.

Article 8 of the agreement grants the government of National Accord authority over the army. However, parliament insists on keeping control over any future military, with Haftar as commander-in-chief.

Baeira said that the two leaders were also to tackle the reformation of the presidential council.

The nine-member council is the country’s provisional leadership. It was formed after the Morocco agreement.

Serraj met Haftar in January 2016 in the eastern city of Al Marj. Earlier in 2017, Egyptian mediators reportedly failed to get both men in the same room for direct talks in Cairo.