Libyan workers hang flags to decorate Tripoli's Martyrs' Square, on February 15, 2017, in preparation for celebrations marking the sixth anniversary of the start of the armed revolt that ousted Muammar Qaddafi./ AFP / MAHMUD TURKIA
Libyan workers hang flags to decorate Tripoli's Martyrs' Square, on February 15, 2017, in preparation for celebrations marking the sixth anniversary of the start of the armed revolt that ousted Muammar Qaddafi./ AFP / MAHMUD TURKIA
Libyan workers hang flags to decorate Tripoli's Martyrs' Square, on February 15, 2017, in preparation for celebrations marking the sixth anniversary of the start of the armed revolt that ousted Muammar Qaddafi./ AFP / MAHMUD TURKIA
Libyan workers hang flags to decorate Tripoli's Martyrs' Square, on February 15, 2017, in preparation for celebrations marking the sixth anniversary of the start of the armed revolt that ousted Muamma

World

The GNA prime minister Fayez Al Sarraj and eastern army commander Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar agreed the committee should study changes to the Libyan Political Agreement, which gives a mandate for the creation of a unity government, with the aim of paving the way for elections next year.

John Pearson Foreign Correspondent

February 15, 2017

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Egypt is seeking to build on its Libya mediation process despite failing to persuade the head of Tripoli’s UN-supported Government of National Accord and the country’s key military commander to meet on Tuesday.

Though both the GNA prime minister Fayez Al Sarraj and eastern army commander Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar arrived in Cairo, there was no meeting. Mr Al Sarraj left Egypt on Tuesday night.

However, Egypt’s chief-of-staff Lieutenant General Mahmoud Hegazy spent Tuesday shuttling between the two men who agreed on the formation of a committee to discuss changing the terms of the Libyan Political Agreement, the peace deal for Libya brokered by the UN in 2015.

Colonel Tamer Al Rifai, an Egyptian army spokesman, said both men agreed the committee should study changes to the Agreement, which gives a mandate for the creation of a unity government, with the aim of paving the way for elections next year.

Discussions are expected to continue this week with Agila Saleh, president of Libya’s House of Representatives parliament, based in Tobruk, meeting Egyptian officials in Cairo. Mr Saleh is to meet the head of the Cairo-based Arab League on Thursday and may also have discussions with Mr Al Serraj.

At issue is Libya’s unity-government structure which was endorsed by the United Nations Security Council in December 2015 but which has failed to bring peace to the country.

The key to the Libyan Political Agreement is a nine-strong presidency heading the GNA, with parliament acting as its legislature. But this presidency, operating in Tripoli since March 30 last year, has failed to win widespread acceptance.

Two of the presidency’s nine members, both supporting the parliament, continue to boycott presidency sessions, and parliament itself has failed to agree to either the Libyan Political Agreement or on the wake-up of several cabinets proposed by Mr Al Serraj.

Egypt’s invitation for Al Sarraj and Field Marshal Haftar to meet was an attempt to iron-out a key sticking point in the UN plan, which is who should command Libya’s armed forces. Parliament insists it should make that choice, not the presidency, but its decision to back Field Marshal Haftar as armed forces chief has drawn fierce opposition from rival groups.

Libya Dialogue, the UN-chaired commission that designed the Libyan Political Agreement, has already begun discussing changes to the presidency, with one option under discussion being to strip it down from nine members to three.

The urgency for reform comes with Libya sinking ever deeper into chaos. Rival militias sporadically clash in the capital, while Field Marshall Haftar’s Libyan National Army continues to battle militias in the eastern city of Benghazi. In October the World Bank warned Libya’s economy is “near to collapse.”

Martin Kobler, chief of the United Nations Support Mission for Libya (UNSMIL) is not involved in the Cairo talks, but said earlier this month he was optimistic that Libyans on all sides want peace.

“We are beginning to see an emerging consensus among parties,” he told the UN Security Council on February 8. “2017 must be a year of decisions and political breakthrough.”

foreign.desk@thenational.ae

EgyptCairoLibya