The Presidency Council, headed by Prime Minister-designate, Faiez al-Serraj, has failed to meet the deadline of 9 February 2016 – set by the House of Representatives (HoR) – to present a second proposed list for the Government of National Accord. The role of retired general, Khalifa Haftar, as well as the post of minister for defence, remain stumbling blocks in the talks among the different signatories of the Political Agreement.

Hafter’s future is creating division within the HoR, political parties that supported the agreement, and lobbying groups for various towns and territories. A meeting of political parties in Tunis last weekend failed to reach a consensus. While the Justice and Construction Party (Muslim Brotherhood) seems to agree on a role for Haftar, Hakim Belhaj’s Watan (Homeland) Party and the National Salvation Front remain dubious. Another issue is that southern parliamentarians insist on having the minister of defence portfolio. Over the last week, a number of proposals have been floated for unblocking the stalled negotiations. Some suggested that al-Serraj should hold the defence ministry post, while others proposed a joint command embodied by the five members of the Presidency Council. Others even suggested to do without the defence ministry all together.

On the military front, an Operation Dignity air strike on Derna at the end of January left unknown numbers of civilians dead. As a result, the air strike was condemned by Tripoli, Tobruk, and even Abdallah al-Thani in Beida. At first the identity of the aircraft was not known, until Haftar’s Operation Dignity admitted that a MiG-23 aircraft crashed in Derna due to mechanical failure. After photographs of the aircraft were circulated on social media, unnamed sources admitted that it was, in fact, brought down in Derna.

Links for more information:
http://unsmil.unmissions.org/Default.aspx?tabid=35
https://www.libyaherald.com/2016/02/08/the-presidency-council-misses-hor-deadline
https://www.libyaherald.com/2016/02/07/unknown-aircraft-carry-out-deadly-raids-in-derna/
https://www.libyaherald.com/2016/02/08/ansar-al-sharia-in-derna-says-it-shot-down-mig-23-today/

Posted by lakhdarghettas

Dr. Lakhdar Ghettas Author of Algeria and the Cold War: International Relations and the Struggle for Autonomy (London & NY: IB Tauris, 2018)