Libya peace delegates ‘bribed to support PM’

AT LEAST three participants in Un-led Libya peace talks were bribed for their votes, experts from the world body found in a report seen by AFP.

Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, the interim prime minister, was selected early last month during Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) talks launched in Tunisia in November, the United Nations’ latest bid to salvage the country from a decade of conflict and fragmentation.

In a report set to be presented to the Security Council this month, UN experts found that during the Tunisia talks, two participants “offered bribes of between $150,000 (£108,000) to $200,000 to at least three LPDF participants if they committed to vote for Dbeibah as PM”. The report, which is yet to be made public, was prepared by UN experts who were examining breaches of an international arms embargo to the North African nation.

In the report seen by AFP, the experts reported one delegate “erupted in anger in the lobby of the Four Seasons hotel in Tunis on hearing that some participants may have received up to ... $500,000

for their Dbeibah votes, whereas he had only received $200,000.”

One participant in the talks, who asked to remain anonymous, confirmed to AFP that he had witnessed the scene, voicing anger at “unacceptable corruption at a time when Libya is going through a major crisis”.

The Tunisia talks were aimed at creating a transitional administration to lead the country to elections in December. Last month, the 75 participants, hand-picked by the UN to represent a wide spectrum of Libyan constituencies, selected an interim administration led by billionaire Mr Dbeibah and a three-member presidential council.

Mr Dbeibah must now win a vote of confidence in his government from the Libyan parliament by March 19.

He said last week that he had submitted a “vision” for a cabinet line-up but that the names of proposed ministers would be disclosed in parliament during the confidence vote.

The latest claims came after several Libyan organisations in November demanded an investigation into allegations of corruption over the selection of future officials.