Renewed tension in Libya, Al-Sarraj's call for political dialogue and ICC report highlighted in the news

09 Mai 2020

Tripoli, Libya, May 9  (Infosplusgabon) - Libyan newspapers this week focused on renewed tension on the fighting in Libya after Presidential Council President Fayez Al-Sarraj called for the resumption of political dialogue, welcoming the various initiatives aimed at finding a peaceful solution and avoiding the bloodshed.

The report of the Prosecutor General of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Fatou Bensouda, presented on Libya before the Security Council via videoconference, deploring the pursuit of the impunity of others for crimes committed in this country, was among the hot topics covered by the Libyan press.

Under the title "After Aguila's initiative and the welcome of Sarraj, will the political path dominate the noise of arms in Libya", the newspaper Al-Wassat wrote that the initiative of the President of the Chamber of Representatives (Parliament), Aguila Saleh, for a political solution has returned to the center of discussions as efforts to resolve the Libyan crisis are struggling to materialize, after the tacit positive reception announced by the President of the Presidential Council, Fayez Al-Sarraj , with regard to this initiative.

Al-Sarraj welcomed what he called "all political initiatives calling for peaceful solutions to the Libyan crisis far from the fighting and the imposition of a fait accompli by force of arms", the newspaper reported, adding that this is the first official reaction of the Presidential Council in two weeks after the announcement of the initiative, "which raises the question of opening windows closed to political dialogue in the country".

The Libyan weekly newspaper in Cairo, Egypt, added that Al-Sarraj spoke of the details of Aguila's initiative without direct and explicit reference to it, and called in a statement to "agree on a comprehensive roadmap and a political path that brings all Libyans together, whether by amending the political agreement and forming a Presidential Council composed of a president, two vice-presidents and a separate head of government ", as he also paved the way for another choice, namely " an agreement on a constitutional path and general elections as soon as possible".

On April 23, the Speaker of the House of Representatives announced an eight-point political initiative that includes restructuring the current executive from the political agreement signed in Skhirat and reassigning its members to ensure representation of the three historic regions "Cyrenaica, Tripolitania and Fezzan", and the rewriting of the Constitution while the House of Representatives is maintained pending the holding of new legislative elections.

The newspaper stressed that the statement by Al-Sarraj will breach the "wall of the Libyan crisis" in the impasse, especially in the context of the recent military escalation of the capital war, and the light of its association with complex interactions linked to the two camps of the crisis.

According to Al-Wassat, the first difficulty relates to the general command camp, whose decision to cancel the Skhirat agreement did not generate any support at the international level, and therefore did not constitute a new reality on the ground, which would have given it international legitimacy to take control of power and fully distribute the product of wealth, in addition to not making progress on the ground which strengthens its political position.

The second difficulty, the newspaper specified, relates to the camp of the government of national accord, which now suffers from obvious cracks between its parties, translated by the declarations of Al-Sarraj concerning "the specific character of certain personalities of the State through making crucial decisions in the country and going beyond their role and skills, which has increased the economic and financial suffering of the citizens", alluding to the conflict between the Presidential Council and the Central Bank.

The paper concludes that in the light of these two points, the question remains whether Al-Sarraj's statements will bring new things that will reorganize the maps, or if they will record a position in the context of a crisis that has multiple initiatives and dialogues.

Afrigatenews is interested in the report of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, who announced that the court "is currently working on the issue of new arrest warrants against individuals in Libya, given the increase of violence and fighting."

The Arabic-language electronic newspaper said that during a session of the UN Security Council, via videoconference, Bensouda urged the council to "bring to justice those accused of war crimes in Libya".

She continued: "My office continues to collect and analyze information on incidents during this period of armed conflict, which may constitute war crimes, under the Rome Statute (of the International Criminal Court), which prohibits deliberate attacks on hospitals, schools and places of worship," the newspaper reported.

According to the newspaper, a report by the International Criminal Court found that there were approximately 749,000 people in the areas affected by the fighting in and around Tripoli, including nearly 345,000 people in the front-line areas, said the newspaper.

In the nineteenth report of the International Criminal Court on the situation in Libya, submitted to the United Nations Security Council, Bensouda reported on the exodus of more than 149,000 people from the south of Tripoli since the start of the "Libyan National Army" offensive in April 2019.

Returning to Haftar's announcement of Libyan mandates to rule the country alone, the newspaper quoted an "International Crisis Group" report in which it called on outside allies to quickly put pressure on the army chief to withdraw his rejection of the political agreement and to express his attachment to the operation led by the UN.

The international non-governmental group, based in Brussels, suggested in a report published by the newspaper that "his (Haftar) main objective was to consolidate power in the hands of the army, which is already under the control of Haftar, alluding to what his supporters revealed about a constitutional document "which constitutes the basis of a transition roadmap and new governance structures for these areas.

Among the proposals disseminated is the appointment of a military council or a civil-military body to replace the House of Representatives during this transition phase, and the appointment of a new government in the east of the country as an alternative to the current government headed by Abdallah Al-Theni, the newspaper said, citing the report.

According to the International Group, "Haftar could be motivated by his desire to anticipate and thwart possible political negotiations between the House of Representatives and Tripoli, and perhaps to marginalize the whole of Parliament even though its president, Aguila Saleh, and Haftar are allies, the army and the parliament of Tobruk have not always agreed."

FIN/ INFOSPLUSGABON/VVG/GABON2020

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