HOPES HIGH FOR LIBYA AFTER CEASEFIRE DEAL IS STRUCK
Al Sarraj and Haftar agree to truce and road map towards unity government and end of war
A ceasefire deal for Libya was announced in Paris yesterday after talks between leaders from the two opposing sides.
Fayez Al Sarraj, prime minister of the UN-backed government in Tripoli, and Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, chief of the Libyan National Army that backs the House of Representatives in Tobruk, met in talks hosted by French president Emmanuel Macron.
“We commit to a ceasefire and to refrain from any use of armed force for any purpose that does not strictly constitute counter-terrorism,” the parties later said.
The Paris talks are a new stage in a process initiated by the UAE in Abu Dhabi in May, when Emirati and Egyptian diplomats convinced Mr Al Sarraj and Field Marshal Haftar to meet face to face.
Under the Paris deal, both leaders pledged support for a road map towards a unity government, followed by elections as soon as possible.
Details are to be agreed on in further talks supervised by the United Nations’ newly appointed special envoy for Libya, Ghassan Salame.
The truce pledge offers the prospect of an end to three years of civil war that has killed more than 20,000 dead and left 400,000 displaced.
Lack of a central government has allowed militant groups in- cluding ISIL to establish bases in Libya, while migrant smugglers operate with impunity.
The road map calls for both sides to stick to the previously drafted Libya Political Agreement, which sets out a complicated governing formula with power to be shared by Mr Al Sarraj and the elected House of Representatives parliament in Tobruk.
If the Tobruk parliament agrees to the new deal, Mr Al Sarraj’s government will supervise the dissolution of Tripoli’s powerful militias and hand the capital to regular police and army forces.
Previous peace initiatives have crumbled amid divisions between Libya’s many competing factions.
The task for Mr Al Sarraj and Field Marshal Haftar will now be to persuade the other Libyan parties to go ahead with the deal.
A key aspect of the agreement will be support from the international community, but there are reports that some of this is fraying, with Italian leaders annoyed that Rome officials were not invited to the Paris talks.
Italy has led its own Libyan peace initiative, and Italian foreign minister Angelino Alfano told his country’s La Stampa newspaper yesterday that the French-UAE talks may complicate Rome’s peace process.
“There are too many open questions on Libya, too many initiatives, we need to combine,” Mr Alfano said.
Diplomats hope the Paris deal can head off a new round of war. After his forces captured the eastern city of Benghazi this month, Field Marshal Haftar announced his intention to move on to Tripoli by the end of the year.
Deal calls for both sides to stick to the Libya Political Agreement, which sets out route to unity government
The Libya peace agreement announced in Paris yesterday is a breakthrough, committing all of the country’s many factions to a ceasefire, a united government and elections to end a three-year civil war.
Signed by the head of the UNbacked Government of National Accord, prime minister Fayez Al Sarraj, and the commander of the Libyan national army, Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, it sets out a comprehensive path to peace.
The Libyan national army is aligned with the elected parliament in Libya’s east, an administration that rivals the Government of National Accord based in the capital, Tripoli.
Step one of the peace agreement is an end to battles that have raged across the country, principally between the Libyan National Army and various militias aligned with Mr Al Sarraj’s government.
That step is to be followed by a commitment from all sides to the Libya Political Agreement, a proposed constitution that underpins Mr Al Sarraj’s administration and lays out a complicated governing formula designed to involve all of the country’s tribal factions.
The Paris deal states the Libya Political Agreement will be a stepping stone to yet another constitution.
That will be drafted by the independent constitutional assembly – elected in 2014 but stagnant – which will lay the groundwork for elections as soon as possible.
Key to the new deal is the promise that Libya’s militias, which were mostly formed during the 2011 uprising that deposed and killed former dictator Muammar Qaddafi, will be dissolved and replaced with regular police and an army probably controlled by Field Marshal Haftar.
French diplomats who crafted the deal have sent a bold message about the commitment by president Emmanuel Macron to resolving the chaos in Libya.
Paris has also shown willingness to work within a wider process. The agreement notes that it is only a new stage in a pre-existing peace initiative begun by the UAE in Abu Dhabi on May 3, when diplomats first brought Mr Al Sarraj and Field Marshal Haftar together.
The agreement also suggests a role for the United Nations, expressing hope that the details of the deal can be fleshed out by Ghassan Salame, the Lebanese academic and former culture minister who has recently taken over as the envoy for the UN Support Mission for Libya.
Many Libyans will hope Mr Macron can succeed in his peace-building efforts. Civil war in Libya has left 400,000 people displaced, ruined the economy and created a chaos that militant groups, including ISIL, have taken advantage of to set up bases.
This month, Field Marshal Haftar’s forces crushed the final enclaves of militias in the eastern city of Benghazi. Residents celebrated this victory with street parties, although the operation turned much of the city to rubble.
There are grave doubts that the peace deal can succeed, however, with the key sticking point being the requirement that militias are dissolved.
The Tripoli militias have become political players in their own right.
Militia leaders know that if they voluntarily dissolve then they will lose this political power and, despite a promise of amnesty in the Paris declaration, some will no doubt fear retribution or investigation for their actions since capturing the capital in the summer of 2014.
A second problem is that Field Marshal Haftar speaks for the army, but not for the parliament in Tobruk, which supervises the army and has not yet signed the peace deal.
The parliament knows it is in a strong position because Field Marshal Haftar’s forces now control two thirds of the country, including key oil ports it captured last September.
Many Tobruk parliamentarians will be happy if the Tripoli militias dissolve, bringing law and security to the country’s troubled capital.
But if the militias remain in place, the parliament is likely to continue backing Field Marshal Haftar, who declared in June his intention to move the army to Tripoli and rid it of militias – albeit by peaceful means if possible.
All eyes will now be on Mr Al Sarraj to see if he can deliver on his part of the bargain.
His government, installed in March last year, relies on some Tripoli militias for security, while other city militias back a third rival government, the National Salvation Government.
Mr Al Sarraj must use all his diplomatic skills to persuade both sets of militias to lay down their arms, or risk seeing the Paris agreement stall – or even collapse.
The Paris deal states that the Libya Political Agreement will be a stepping stone to yet another constitution