adminPARIS/TRIPOLI. — Libyan rivals will meet today in Paris to agree on a political roadmap that aims to resolve disputed issues to pave the way for UN-backed elections this year
UN Special Representative Ghassan Salame has been leading the latest push to unify and stabilise Libya, seven years after the uprising that toppled and then killed Muammar Gaddafi.
Salame told the UN Security Council on May 21 that he had given up trying to amend a stalled 2015 peace deal and was instead focusing on holding elections this year.
“Once we have this roadmap, we will have outlined the commitments from all sides and the next steps,” a French presidential advisor told reporters in a briefing.
“The terms of Mr Salame’s mission will be clearer.”
Prime Minster Fayez al-Sarraj, eastern Libya commander Khalifa Haftar, Aguila Saleh, president of the eastern House of representatives and Khaled Al-Mishri, president of the High Council of State, have all been invited.
Under President Emmanuel Macron, France has tried to play a bigger role in coaxing Libya’s factions to end the turmoil, which has let Islamist militants gain a foothold and allowed migrant smugglers to flourish.
The meeting will encourage the parties to quickly adopt the necessary arrangements for the staging of elections this year.
A draft of the 13-point non-binding political roadmap seen by Reuters includes the call for the immediate unification of the central bank and a commitment to support the creation of a national army. It also agrees to an inclusive political national conference within three months.
Analysts were cautious on the initiative.
The Libyan High Council of State welcomed France’s invitation to hold a conference in France today to agree on a political roadmap but said it did not want military figures to participate, in a clear reference to Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar who is one of the four major figures invited to the talks.
Khaled al-Mishri, who heads the High Council of State, said on Sunday that military figures are not a political party, adding that only three parties must participate in the meeting and they are Prime Minster Fayez al-Sarraj, president of the eastern House of Representatives Aguila Saleh and the High Council of State.
Following Mishri’s statements, 14 militias in support of political Islam movements, such as the Brotherhood and al-Qaeda wings, in Tripoli voiced their rejection of the French initiative because it is a call that aims “to nationalise military rule,” and asserted the significance of “a civil state and the peaceful devolution of power.” — New Agencies/Al Arabiya.
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