By Libya Herald reporter.
Tripoli, 13 June 2015:
The President of the House of Representatives, Ageela Salah Gwaider, is in South Africa for . . .[restrict]the African Union Summit which starts tomorrow, Sunday.
The situation in Libya, notably the growing strength of the Islamic State and the threat it poses not just for Libya but for north Africa and the Sahel region will be one of the main issues at the two-day meeting in Johannesburg.
Foreign Minister Mohamed Al-Dairi is also in Johannesburg for the summit. He is reported to have had talks with the Chinese ambassador to Libya, Li Zhi Ghoh, who is also in Johannesburg for the summit.
There has already been a session of the AU’s International Contact Group on Libya (ICG-L) on the sidelines of the summit’s preliminary sessions this week. At it, Algeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Ramtane Lamamra, said that if there was to be a lasting solution to Libya’s problems, it had to be “political, comprehensive and undoubtedly Libyan”. He also indicated Algeria’s support for the fourth draft for the UN-brokered Dialogue process from Bernardino Leon.
A fortnight ago, there were seemingly confident predictions that the presidency of the continuing General National Congress would try to take part in the summit by sending representatives to the initial proceedings and claiming that it was the sole legitimate authority in Libya. According to the publication Maghreb Confidential, the move was quietly “backed by Algeria which feels that the Tripoli administration is just as legitimate as that of Tobruk”. It also claimed that Tunisia did not object either to the plan. It added that a GNC delegation could count on the support of the Libyan Chargé d’Affaires in South Africa, Mohamed Bensalim, noting that Pretoria still hadnot accredited the ambassador sent by the Thinni government in Beida, Yousif Ibrahim Sherif.
So far, however, there has been no sign of a Tripoli delegation in Johannesburg.
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