Long conflict looms in Libya
FRENCH Foreign Minister Jean-Yves le Drian warned that unresolved economic disputes between Paris and a post-Brexit London could see a deterioration in trade relations.
The warning from the second-largest economy in the EU comes amid friction over EU market access regulations for post-Brexit UK financial entities. European retailers have reportedly threatened British consumers with a deficit of certain goods if a trade deal is not reached by the end of the year. Almost 80% of all food imported to the UK comes from the EU.
France and Britain have an unresolved dispute over access to fishing waters in British maritime areas. The French often accuse the Britons, who are allowed to fish throughout the year, of overfishing. Britain will keep rigid fishing rules in its waters – a promise that has angered French fishermen in places like Brittany. | Sputnik
LIBYA’S combatants are readying for a long conflict, as foreign weapons flood in, tribesmen close oil ports and rival alliances wrangle over revenues from Africa’s largest petroleum reserves.
The moves signal deepening animosity in a war that could worsen regional instability and swell the flow of migrants from the Middle East and Africa almost a decade after Muammar Gaddafi’s fall in 2011.
From his large villa in Libya’s east, tribal leader Sanoussi al-Zwai sees plenty more trouble ahead for the huge country, for years contested by two rival authorities in the east and west. He is an ally of Commander Khalifa Haftar, whose self-styled Libya National Army (LNA) also has the support of Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Jordan and Russian mercenaries as it tries to capture the capital Tripoli.
Zwai’s tribe is blocking oil ports, resisting calls by the US and the UN to restart flows of Libya’s vital income source, which is run by Haftar’s foe, the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA).
Zwai’s price for unlocking the ports is for the GNA, based 1 000 km away in Tripoli, to funnel more income to his people. If the GNA resists, he suggests there could be worse to come.
“We are not happy with what is happening now, but we have ways to escalate if the international community does not listen to us,” said Zwai, leader of a tribe living near eastern oil facilities.
The combatants are racing to rearm, receiving shipments both before and after foreign backers agreed to enforce a truce at a summit in Germany in January. Haftar’s forces and their foreign backers have stopped fighter jet strikes on the capital. But Western diplomats and experts say this is not due to a genuine desire for peace but because of better air defences supplied by Turkey.
“Both sides are preparing for the next battle,” said a Western diplomat.
Diplomacy repeatedly founders on mutual suspicions.
“Each time we have any kind of agreement ... we always saw the same pattern,” said Taher el-Sonni, the GNA ambassador to the U.N. “It’s more like gaining time, then (Haftar decides to) just use force.”
Away from the Tripoli battle, which has displaced at least 150 000 people, the conflict has shifted to the control of oil wealth. Forces allied to Haftar have kept the ports shut for a month, causing losses of some $1.4 billion (R21b).
.
Pressure from international powers and the UN has so far failed to persuade Haftar to reopen the ports and the southern El Sharara oilfield, Libya’s largest.
The veteran commander has even won some new recognition from Western
countries that oil revenues need to be distributed fairly.
A senior US diplomat said it was important that oil revenues are distributed equally, something he said should be discussed in UN-led intra-Libyan economic talks, part of a mediation to overcome divisions.
Neither side discloses how much it spends on the conflict.
Diplomats say the Tripoli government is less dependent on oil than before, as up to a third of the budget is covered by a fee it levies on all private transactions involving hard currency. Some of the Syrian fighters sent by Turkey are paid directly by Tripoli, diplomats say.
A stalemate looms. Haftar has dashed hopes of a truce, saying there would be no peace until “militias” holding Tripoli had been defeated. For its part, Tripoli demands the LNA pull back 1 000km east, something Haftar rejects.