Libya’s rival sides reach preliminary agreements on prisoner exchange

THE UNITED Nations said late Tuesday that talks between Libyan rivals in Egypt have concluded with preliminary agreements to exchange prisoners and open up air and land transit across the country’s divided territory.

The face-to-face military talks, which started Monday in Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Hurghada, came amid international pressure on both sides of the war and their foreign backers to avert an escalation.

The U.N. support mission in Libya said in a written statement that the two days of talks, conducted in “a spirit of responsibility, transparency and mutual trust,” had resulted in progress on several of the lingering issues between the war’s two parties.

It said that both sides agreed they should take steps to ensure the release of all prisoners taken amid military operations sometime next month. Another point was that both sides would expedite the opening of transit links across their respective territories.

The outcomes of the negotiations will be mainstreamed into U.N.-brokered military talks which should be held in the coming week, the U.N. mission said.

The two sides also agreed that the protection of the country’s oil and gas facilities, which are largely under the control of forces backing putschist Gen. Khalifa Haftar in the country’s eastern region, should be a priority in the coming talks, in order for production and export to resume fully.

Haftar’s forces launched an offensive in April 2019 to try to capture the capital Tripoli, the seat of the U.N.-supported Government of National Accord (GNA) in the west. But his campaign collapsed in June when Tripoli-based government forces, with heavy Turkish support, gained the upper hand, driving his forces from the outskirts of the city and other western towns.

Haftar is mainly supported by Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Russia. The GNA has backing from Turkey, as well as from the wealthy Gulf state of Qatar.

Fighting has died down in recent months, but both sides were preparing for a possible battle over Sirte, the gateway to Libya’s major oil fields and export terminals, which is controlled by Haftar.

US LAWSUIT AGAINST HAFTAR

Meanwhile, a federal judge in the U.S. has rejected a request from Haftar, who once lived in Virginia, to toss out lawsuits accusing him of war atrocities.

At a hearing Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Judge Leonie Brinkema said the accusations against warlord Haftar are “very problematic and they’re allegations of some very, very serious conduct.”

The lawsuits, filed by the families of victims, claim that civilians were killed indiscriminately during Haftar’s military campaigns. Some family members allege that relatives were singled out for torture and execution by Haftar’s militia.

Haftar, once a lieutenant to Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, defected to the U.S. during the 1980s and spent many years living in northern Virginia. According to one of the lawsuits, Haftar and his family purchased 17 properties in Virginia between 2014 and 2017, paying $8 million in cash. He is widely believed to have worked with the CIA during his time in exile.

While Brinkema is allowing the core claims in the two separate lawsuits to go forward, she did toss out some. She also dismissed Haftar’s two sons as defendants.

Brinkema ordered a pause in the case for 60 days while she solicits an opinion from the State Department on whether allowing the suits to proceed will interfere with diplomatic efforts. One of the arguments Haftar’s lawyers are making in favor of dismissal is that the matter is a “political question” not suited to judicial review, and that allowing a judge to render an opinion on whether Haftar committed war crimes interferes with the executive branch’s ability to conduct foreign policy.

After the stay is lifted, the case would then proceed to discovery, which could theoretically allow for Haftar to be questioned under oath in a deposition. Brinkema, though, acknowledged the logistical difficulties and suggested it could take years.

“I don’t have any idea how in the world plaintiffs will get discovery,” Brinkema said.