By Libya Herald reporters.
Tripoli, 12 December 2015:
A planned Maltese encounter between House of Representatives president Ageela Salah Gwaider and Nuri Abu . . .[restrict]Sahmain, president of the old GNC collapsed today when Ageela Salah failed to show up.
The meeting between the two politicians was mooted by Abu Sahmain last week and the HoR president had appeared to have accepted. The Maltese government said it that had responded to requests from both men to link up in Valetta.
As it was, when Abu Sahmain arrived this afternoon at Malta’s Luqa Airport, he discovered that Ageela Salah had not. It would seem likely that his no-show had much to do with pressure from Representatives after Abu Sahmain first bruited the idea. HoR members said they would not authorise their president to attend any such meeting.
This evening aides to the HoR president denied that there was ever going to be a meeting, either today or tomorrow. It has since been suggested that an encounter might take place next Wednesday, 16 December, which is when the Government of National Accord is due to be agreed.
However both men have one thing in common, in that each has succeeded in heading off their respective members from voting on the Political Accord and the proposed make-up of the Government of National Accord. Ageela Salah managed this by embarking on an unbroken series of foreign visits which meant that the HoR could not proceed to a vote.
The HoR endorsement was once seen as a constitution key to the adoption of the deal hammered out over a year by former UNSMIL chief Bernardino Leon. This was certainly the case before the end of October, after which it could be claimed that the Tobruk parliament’s mandate had expired. The hoped-for vote from the GNC, assuming it could find itself quorate, was expected to provide a boost by demonstrating a unity of purpose between the government and the GNC, and by extension Libya Dawn. [/restrict]
