Following the Supreme Court’s ruling of Nov. 5th which annulled the House of Representatives’ elections, UNSMIL announced that it “[took] note” of the decision and that it would be “studying it closely.” This wording and subsequent declarations by Bernardino Leon seem to have complicated Leon’s relations with Omar Hassi who leads the Tripoli-based government of national salvation. Tripoli increasingly feels that in the light of Leon’s public declarations and performance, especially after the Court’s ruling, he has failed to remain impartial in his capacity as UN envoy tasked with finding a peaceful resolution of the Libyan crisis. It was therefore not surprising to see a protest outside UNSMIL’s office in Tripoli early this week. On the ground, the humanitarian truce announced in Benghazi by UNSMIL on 19 November did not hold, while battles rage on in the second largest town of this divided country. In Tripoli, Khalifa Hafter’s forces operated an air strike on the Maitiga airport while their allies in Zintan launched an offensive on Kikla and managed to take control of it to the detriment of Libya Dawn forces. This first air strike on the civilian airport by the Hafter forces is decoded in Tripoli as a desperate measure to force a negotiated solution to the crisis. It is in this context that Leon has apparently proposed a national unity government to be headed by Mustafa Abushagur.
http://unsmil.unmissions.org/Default.aspx?tabid=3561&ctl=Details&mid=8549&ItemID=1992314
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustafa_A.G._Abushagur
