By Libya Herald reporter.
Tunis, 25 October 2017:
The holdups in completing the negotiations to amend the Libya Political Agreement are because there are influential players in Libya who are benefitting for the current crisis and do not want change, UN special envoy Ghassan Salamé this evening told a group of Libyan political and tribal figures.
Nonetheless, despite the breakdown between the two sides, the special envoy believed that they would return to the negotiating table in Tunis within a week or two, one of the Libyan officials at the meeting told the Libya Herald. He remained optimistic, but he was also in a hurry to finish this stage of action plan.
Salamé was meeting in Tunis with members of the National Movement for Libya, which expressed support of his action plan to resolve the country’s crisis. Headed by Sheikh Faraj Abu Hassan, one of the leaders of the Obeidat tribe, the movement, started in March 2016 but only formally launched last November, has been involved in promoting national reconciliation. It draws together tribal leaders, activists and peacemakers, as well as representatives of youth and women’s groups.
In addition to Abu Hassan, also present this evening were a number of other senior members including the head of the Tuareg Social Council, Moulay Kudaidi, Sheikh Mohamed Al-Barghouti, the leader of the Warfala tribe, and Sheikh Ibrahim Ben Nasr of the Magarha tribe. For Barghouti it was the first time he met with anyone from UNSMIL. For the past six years he had refused to do so.
This evening’s meeting followed Salamé’s return from Tripoli where where he started the day meeting more than 30 members of the House of Representatives (HoR). He also met with representatives from the south of the country at which he promised to mobilise “all UNSMIL’s capabilities to better serve the people of the south”. As well as these there were meetings in Tripoli with members of the Constitution Drafting Assembly and with Italian ambassador Giuseppe Perrone.
