By Sami Zaptia.
Tunis, 31 March 2016:
It was difficult arriving the Libyan Political agreement (LPA) and that reopening the agreement to new . . .[restrict]negotiations would open up all sorts of divisions. ‘’I do not think it should be reopened’’, stressed Imhamed Shouaib the Deputy president of the House of Representatives.
Shouaib was speaking today at the UN organized Third Libya Experts Development Cooperation Forum held in Tunis 31 March to 1 April.
Shouaib was commenting on discussions around the LPA and whether reopening the whole document for new negotiations after more than a year’s worth of UN-led negotiations between the conflicting Libyan parties.
There is a school of thought that if some small concessions were made to the blockers of a vote taking place in the HoR on the GNA, the GNA would receive the necessary votes in the HoR.
However, Shouaib was aware of the difficulty of reaching an agreement in the first place and is fearful that reopening negotiations would destroy all the work done over the last year or so.
He admitted that the LPA was not perfect and that the Presidential Council is not perfect but that it is ‘’where we have arrived at’’. Stressing that it was the best solution possible and that it provided acceptable ground to work on.
He said that the LPA was approved by the House of Representatives (HoR) but that the Government of National Accord and its ministers were not, as the HoR had failed to vote on it.
However, he stressed that at times measures must be taken that are not strictly democratic. This is forced upon us by the situation that Libya finds itself in, he explained. He explained that the national interest of the country had to be balanced politically with strict legalistic or democratic practices.
He stressed that the GNA needs the support of the experts gathered before him.
He said that there was a need for an institution of experts supported internationally which would be able to offer a helping hand to the GNA would be very useful and beneficial.
The idea of a forum of experts backed by the technical skills and expertise of the UN was thought to hopefully prevent the failure of the GNA of being able to cope with the demands that would be poured upon it by Libyans with high and instant expectations. [/restrict]
