Obama has just announced that he will provide Egypt with the $1.3 billion in military aid that had been suspended. He is providing it to Egypt so that it can fight against terrorism. Egyptian president el-Sisi is a great supporter of Haftar. One can expect that US arms from Egypt will be used not only to fight the Islamic State in Libya but also help Haftar in the fight against Libya Dawn and the Tripoli government. No word the last few days about any further progress in the peace talks. Libya Dawn has agreed to withdraw from positions it used to attack the eastern oil ports and the Tripoli government has sacked their prime minister partly because he was allegedly blocking the peace process.
However, al-Thinni can publicly support military action against Tripoli while the peace talks are going on and Haftar can snub his nose at the UN, but the international community which supposedly supports the dialogue and a unity government is hardly critical at all. Sources; http://kenthink7.blogspot.ca/2015/03/bombing-of-tripoli-airport-by-haftar.html https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/03/31/obama-lifts-freeze-weapons-transfer-egyptian-dictator/ http://kenthink7.blogspot.ca/2015/03/general-haftar-rises-from-failed-coup.html http://en.starafrica.com/news/libya-un-mission-welcomes-ceasefire-withdrawal-of-forces-in-sidra-oil-crescent-region.html http://www.libyaherald.com/2015/04/01/libya-crises-is-a-security-and-legitimacy-crises-not-a-political-crises-https://www.libyaherald.com/2015/04/01/thinni-meets-with-32-ambassadors-to-libya-in-tunisia/
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" During the course of the discussions in Morocco, one of the parties requested that UNSMIL convey to the other participants a proposal for the resolution of the Libyan crisis. UNSMIL expressed the view that the proposal represented a departure from the agenda which all the participants had previously agreed to." Note that the statement does not say who the party was who made the proposal or what the proposal was. There appears to be no press reports of what these proposals might be that I could find. The only proposals I found that were covered had to with the nature of the unity government, which a Muslim Brotherhood associated group suggested could be a transitional council. This proposal fits in with the agenda item of a unity government. I expect that the proposal might have come from the Tobruk government and had to do with concentrating upon a campaign against terrorism. Terrorism especially that of the Islamic State is a real problem in Libya but it needs to be tackled by a unity government since both competing parties are suffering from those attacks in areas they control. I expect that Haftar and the Tobruk government are hoping that western countries will support them and they will wage a campaign not just against the Islamic State but all Islamists as Haftar has been doing for some time. This includes the Tripoli government. So far fortunately most western countries notably the US and UK have not thrown their support behind Haftar but for now at least demand that the dialogue process continue. Jason Pack has an interesting article on these issues that I include in the references.
Sources http://www.aa.com.tr/en/politics/476506--libyas-brotherhood-makes-bid-to-end-political-rift http://www.libya-analysis.com/packs-publications/ http://www.unsmil.unmissions.org/Default.aspx?tabid=3561&ctl=Details&mid=8549&ItemID=2010606&language=en-US http://www.unsmil.unmissions.org/Default.aspx?tabid=3561&ctl=Details&mid=8549&ItemID=2011251&language=en-US http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2015/Mar-11/290428-libyan-parties-in-algiers-urge-immediate-ceasefire.ashx http://allafrica.com/stories/201503120776.html |
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Ken Hanly
Ken is a retired philosophy professor living in the boondocks of Manitoba, Canada, with his Filipina wife. He enjoys reading the news and writing articles. Politically Ken is on the far left of the political spectrum on many issues.
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