WHO IS LIBYA? – The conundrum of competing governments
There seems to be a rift between the members of the Security Council on whom to involve in the process of state-building in Libya.
There are currently three major players controlling different parts of the country. General Khalifa Haftar uses his army to control territory in Eastern Libya and recently has advanced to control the city of Benghazi. Under the Libyan Political Agreement which was mediated by the UN, the Presidential Council and the Government of National Accord have been established. This government, based in Tripoli, remains the only political body officially recognised by the UN.
The LPA aimed to establish the Tobruk-based House of Representatives as a legislative body in support of the GNA. However, they have refused to do so and backed an alternative government. This leaves Libya with three contesting governments of which none is able to effectively exercise power in the whole country.
Although the UN has officially endorsed the GNA as the only legitimate government, several countries such as Russia and Egypt continue to support other factions, mainly Khalifa Haftar.
To understand the situation from within, we talked to the representative of the Government of National Accord to get their view on the situation.
The main Goal of the GNA is to establish control over the whole territory of Libya. To that end they still hope to fully implement the Libyan Political Agreement and demand from the House of Representatives to give up their resentments and back them up to form a functioning state with executive and legislative.
Furthermore, they demand from all states in the Security Council to affirm their support for the GNA and to immediately stop negotiations with other factions, especially General Haftar. Regarding that, some other state delegations argued that it would make more sense to include every faction to get a full representation of the Libyan People, indirectly claiming that some militants such as the General are speaking for the population.
This goal of representation is shared by the GNA but they disagree on the methods and on whom to include. They don’t want to negotiate with warlords and with their enemies but rather with the Libyan people directly.
They propose the establishment of an assembly consisting of municipal and local representatives: members of the house of representatives, mayors, and tribal and social leaders. The goal would be to have this assembly as a platform for political dialogue, to integrate perspectives from different factions and to hold the GNA accountable which could be a first step towards stabilising the political and societal system of Libya.
To achieve this goal, they are asking the community of states to support them in their efforts to create a peaceful new society on the ruins of the past.
