Libyan military factions to continue unity talks in Cairo

CAIRO – 20 March 2018: Military factions in Libya agreed on Tuesday to continue convening in Cairo in order to discuss possible mechanisms to implement the national agenda that is aimed at unifying the military institution.

Under the auspices of Egypt, Chief of staff of the General Command of the Libyan National Army Abdel Razek Nadori and Chief of General Staff of the Libyan Army Abdul Rahman al-Tawil arrived in Cairo on Sunday to participate in the sixth round of negotiations to unify the Libyan military forces.

According to a statement issued at the conclusion ofafter Tuesday’s meetings, the participants stressed on the army’s national constants which prioritize the maintenance of the sovereignty and unity of Libya, and the necessity of keeping the national army away from any polarizations that could hinder it from carrying out its role in protecting the Libyan territories.

They also stressed the need to unify the Libyan army in order to be effectively able to fend off challenges facing the country, especially those relating to terrorism and illegal immigration.

Egypt has hosted several meetings to bring the Libyan conflicted factions to negotiations table, alongside members of Tobruk’s House of Representatives, to resolve the Libyan crisis and amend the Skhirat agreement, which aims at ending Libya’s civil war.

In December 2016, Cairo hosted a conference attended by Libyan officials and representatives from the country’s numerous factions, where they issued five proposed amendments to the agreement. The conference concluded with a decision to amend the eighth article of the Skhirat agreement that outlined the jurisdiction of the Libyan army chief commander.

Negotiations to unify the Libyan military were held as a part of Egypt’s initiative that kicked off in July 2017 to unify the military institutions. The first meeting aimed at creating a framework for the initiative while the second and third meetings were held in Cairo from October 29 to November 2, 2017, to follow up the results of the first meeting.

The fourth meeting was held from December 6 to 9 to restructure the Libyan army.
Egyptian Officials met again with Libyan military forces in Cairo on February 21 in order to continue the discussions that started on February 16.

The meetings deeply discussed the methods to unify and restructure the Libyan military forces after a long split that was led to by the outbreak of the Libyan revolution in 2011.

Libya, which is struggling to get through the critical political situation that it has been experiencing since 2011, is not only trying to unify its army, but is longing to revive its political functions by conducting presidential and legislative elections by mid-2018.

Despite the fact that no law has been issued regarding regulating the elections, solutions were suggested by politicians and presidential candidates in order to make sure they would be conducted at the announced timing. For instance, during an interview with Egypt Today on March 12, presidential candidate Aref Ali Nayed suggested making some amendments to the already-existing law to regulate the elections. He argued that even the constitution is still disagreed upon by various Libyan factions.

Nayed was the first to announce his intentions to run for the presidency despite the large popular base for Saif al-Islam Gaddafi. The son of the former Libyan president announced his presidential plan for reform on March 19 from Tunisia, affirming his candidacy.

In another interview with Egypt Today last January, Emad al-Sayeh, head of the Electoral Commission in Libya, explained the current situation that hangs between alarm and hope inside Libya. He gave several details about the anticipated elections, adding that they are waiting for the Elections Regulation Law, which would allow the commission to pursue its work. Until then, the commission was to update its database for eligible voters based on law article No. 8 for 2013.

“This procedure will save us time and effort after receiving the elections law. We need almost three to four months of preparations after receiving the law, so this step had to be taken earlier,” Sayeh said.

About 485,000 Libyan citizens have registered their names during the past months at the commission. This number, however, is considered to be very low, as the past number of voters registered at the commission was two million out of the 4.5 million eligible Libyan voters, according to Sayeh.

Sayeh expected huge participation from the Libyans in the upcoming elections. “We announced that we need almost 66 million Libyan dinars ($49 million) as a budget for the electoral process; however, all we have for now is only 1.5 million dinars,” he said.

Since 2011, Libya has been witnessing severe devastating political escalations, which reached their climax with the emergence of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group that has killed hundreds of innocent civilians. Their operations in Sirte were of particular gravity when the city was taken and turned into stronghold for the terrorist group. The situation inside Libya became complex, and some politicians and experts felt there were no political means to reunify the country. Now however, with the aid and support of the Arab countries, Libya seems to be on the right track to achieving full political and civil rights.