All recently clashing state and militia forces and their military vehicles will return to their barracks as of yesterday evening.
This comes after the President of the Presidency Council, Mohamed Menfi, in his capacity as Commander-in-Chief of the Libyan Army, held a series of meetings, in the presence of the Chief of the General Staff and his assistant, a number of military leaders, in addition to the commanders of the Conflict Resolution Forces and members of the Security Arrangements Committee emanating from them.
It was also decided a joint committee of all the forces concerned will be formed to follow up and monitor any violations of the agreement and to take the necessary measures against any force that violates this agreement.
Meetings will resume and efforts will be intensified until all armed manifestations are evacuated from the capital, Tripoli, and regular police and military agencies are enabled to perform their tasks in maintaining security and stability.
The end of any security manifestations (militias) outside state institutions
Commenting on the agreement (during his Tripoli meeting yesterday with UNSMIL head Hanna Tetteh), Tripoli based Libyan Prime Minister, Abd Alhamid Aldabaiba, said ’’The Ministry of Interior is already preparing to take over the full tasks of securing the capital and all vital sites, in implementation of the Security and Military Arrangements Plan supervised by the Presidency Council, which provides for a comprehensive withdrawal of armed formations to their camps, and the end of any security manifestations outside state institutions’’.
Aldabaiba added that this ‘‘national project aims to end the presence of formations outside the regular army and police institutions, and enable the official security services to perform their tasks in maintaining security and public order, praising the role played by the Presidential Council in following up this sensitive file, and in coordination with the government, stressing the continuation of work until the completion of the implementation of the plan in full”.
Fallout from the May events
These measures come on the back of, initially, the events in May which saw the contested death / murder of the Stability Support Apparatus (SSA) militia commander, Abdelghani Ghnewa Al-Kikly, the subsequent military disbanding of his SSA and subsequent clashes with the Special Deterrence Force (SDF / RADA) and its militia allies from within and without Tripoli.
There were further clashes between state forces and militias at the end of the Eid holiday on 8 June, all a fallout from the May events.
Comment and analysis
Note that in his comment on the agreement Aldabaiba stresses ‘‘the end of any security manifestations outside state institutions’’, meaning the militias in opposition to his government such the SDF / RADA. This is a clear message that Aldabaiba is not backing down from his announced aim of ending all the other opposing militias.
Analysts speculated weather Aldabaiba would be forced to backdown from his announced policy in view of the instability and terror the clashes have and would cause to civilians, assets and infrastructure.
Various unaccountable militias since the 2011 revolution have worked out that governments of the day come under enormous domestic and international pressure to restrain or withdraw their actions against militias for the sake of the safety of civilians. Militias operate under no such restraints and have exploited this fact to safeguard their continued existence. They use infrastructure and civilians as human shield for their continued existence. They blackmail the government with the threat of civilian deaths.
How long can militias be allowed to hold Libya hostage?
The question must be asked, however, for how long can this continue? How long can the Libyan state and the Libyan people be held hostage by militias? How long can Libya live with shadow states and governments operating with impunity within it?
Short-term pain for long-term gain?
How long can the progress and development of the whole state be held back by a handful of militias? When will international community accept that no militia is going to negotiate itself out of existence and that there may be an unfortunate cost in blood and lives in the short term for the greater good of establishing a strong functioning Libyan state? How long can Libya be forced to continue to slowly bleed to death?
Libya is still stuck in the past – and going backwards
Libya is still stuck in pre 2011 while the world has moved on. It is still stuck in a centralised, welfare rentier state with a hugely undiversified and unsustainable economy. In reality, this means Libya is going backwards.
When will Libya be able to elect / appoint a government with a strong mandate to implement strong structural reform? When will Libya be set free to diversify its economy to a productive, value-added economy?
Fourteen years on from the February 2011 revolution, these questions must be asked and openly and honestly discussed – for the greater good of the long-term future of a stable and prosperous Libya.
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