Libya ceasefire: State Council rejects any dialogue with Marshal Haftar in search of peace

23 Août 2020

Tripoli, Libya, August 23 (Infosplusgabon) - The High State Council in Libya has welcomed the announcement of an immediate ceasefire in the country by the Presidential Council Chairman, Fayez al-Sarraj, and Parliament Speaker, Aguila Salah, but asserted its rejection of any form of dialogue with Marshal Khalifa Haftar.

In a statement issued on Saturday evening, the High State Council praised the role "of the friendly and brotherly countries that supported us in repelling the aggression against the capital, especially Turkey and Qatar, in addition to the countries that sought to resolve the crisis in a positive manner".

It urges "Egypt to work more pragmatically with Libya in a way that guarantees the common interests of both countries".

This position came in a statement issued by the Council of State in reaction to "the latest political and military developments in the country" - regarding the announcement.

In their separate declarations on the ceasefire on Friday, Fayez al-Sarraj and Aguila Salah called for the resumption of oil production and exports, and the lodging of accruing revenues in a special account at the Libyan Foreign Bank so that the fund will not be spent until a political settlement is reached.

In a communiqué, the Council of State called on the Presidential Council, the House of Representatives and the United Nations Mission to "respect the provisions of the political agreement included in the Constitutional Declaration and reinforced by the decisions of the Security Council, and not to overstep those provisions or try to impose a new de facto situation that contradicts what has been agreed".

It also called on all parties involved in the Libyan conflict to respect security decisions, including Resolution No. 2509 of 2020, which stresses the importance of "holding accountable the perpetrators of violations or abuses that affect human rights or violations of international and humanitarian law (...). ...), the need for the Government of National Accord to exercise exclusive and effective control over the National Petroleum Company, the Central Bank of Libya and the Libyan Investment Authority without prejudice to future constitutional provisions in accordance with the Libyan political agreement".

The document also recalled Resolution No 2259 of 2015, which called on Member States to stop supporting parallel institutions not covered by the agreement and to cease official contacts with them.

The Council of State identified seven main points for resolving the crisis, including "working to end the state of rebellion in the country through an immediate ceasefire, allowing the Government of National Accord to extend its control over the whole of Libya, as well as categorically rejecting any form of dialogue with Haftar".

The State Council stipulated that "any dialogue or agreement must be in accordance with the Libyan political agreement which organised the dialogue mechanism to be only between elected bodies".

In this respect, it urged "members of the House of Representatives to assume their responsibilities and to work immediately to complete what had previously been agreed between the two Houses concerning the restructuring of the Presidential Council and the separation of the government from the Presidential Council so that it can carry out its tasks and activate Article 15 of the political agreement on the posts of sovereignty".

The Council of State called "for the immediate opening up of the oil sector and holding accountable those who were behind the blockade, reforming the oil sector by re-establishing the Ministry of Oil and establishing a transparent and clear mechanism for the National Oil Company so as to improve performance and increase production.

"Spend revenues with transparency and equity leading to the reduction of suffering, starting to turn the wheel of production and development, integrating the private sector more into the economic sector and establishing local government instead of central authority".

It also called for the need to "urgently end the transitional phase by holding the referendum on the draft Constitution with a view to holding presidential and parliamentary elections acceptable to all Libyans".

The Council of State invited the Presidential Council to "concentrate its efforts on solving the problems of the ordinary citizens, which have accumulated and made life unbearable, especially the issue of electricity and that of cleaning up cities and transport, including the opening of airports and maintenance of roads, especially roads in the south, the supply of fuel to all regions of Libya, the prevention of smuggling and the fight against the corruption that afflicts state institutions to the point of exhaustion".

The Council of State also called for the "immediate reconstruction of the military institution using modern scientific methods, an end to the state of chaos and the proliferation of weapons, and the dissolution of all armed formations that are not part of the regular military establishment".

FIN/ INFOSPLUSGABON/AGF/GABON2020

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