Libya roadmap to peace agreed
cairo — Warring Libyan factions tentatively agreed late on Tuesday on an Egypt-brokered roadmap to heal divisions with the creation of a joint committee to negotiate reconciliation and elections by February 2018.
The deal comes after months of diplomatic efforts by Egypt, culminating this week with visits by Fayez Seraj, prime minister of the UNbacked government in Tripoli, and Khalifa Haftar, a military commander supported by eastern factions.
The two men met separately with senior Egyptian military officials and had been set to sit together in a session late on Tuesday, then failed to meet due to last-minute differences.
However, three Egyptian sources involved in the talks told Reuters that Seraj and Haftar had agreed to honour the deal despite lingering tensions.
“The two sides have agreed. I have doubts about the implementation as the atmosphere between them is ... tense but we hope the opposite happens,” said one of the sources.
Concerned about the spread of Daesh militants from its western neighbour, Egypt has made stabilising Libya a priority and has hosted a flurry of meetings in recent months bringing together Libyan politicians from east and west.
The Tripoli-based Government of National Accord’s (GNA) leadership, the Presidential Council, is made up of nine members who are meant to represent different geographical regions and political groupings within Libya.
But the UN-backed Council has been bitterly divided, with two of its number mostly boycotting proceedings, and different members regularly issuing contradictory statements.
Haftar is a figurehead for factions in eastern Libya but harbours national ambitions and once fought beside long-time leader Muammer Gaddafi. He has shunned the GNA but enjoys close ties with Egypt, which supports his tough approach to Daesh and other militant groups.
Egypt has refrained from endorsing the GNA, with officials saying it is up to the Libyans to decide on their government.
According to a statement released by the Egyptian Armed Forces overnight, Seraj, Haftar and Agila Saleh, speaker of the eastern parliament allied to the commander, agreed to establish a committee tasked with forming a power-sharing arrangement. —