US Ambassador to Libya Richard Norland met with General Khalifa Haftar, Commander of the Libyan National Army in Cairo on Wednesday. The meeting was arranged for supporting international efforts to salvage a UN-brokered roadmap to hold presidential and parliament elections in Libya on December 24.
The US embassy in Cairo tweeted: “[The United States] continues to focus on the urgency of supporting the difficult compromises necessary to establish the constitutional basis and legal framework needed now in order for the elections to take place on December 24.” It seems that Norland’s talks with General Haftar were arranged after the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum had failed to agree on a legal framework to hold elections.
In addition to exploring the removal of obstacles in the form of Ankara-backed Jihadists and mercenaries, which hinder the Libyans’ commitments to hold elections, the Norland-Haftar meeting in Cairo should be viewed as a plus mark for Haftar’s pre-and post-election role in shaping the future of Libya.
Since the establishment of the strong Libyan National Army, which was approved by the Libyan parliament, Haftar has been tasked with fighting armed militias and Syrian Jihadists transferred by Turkey from Syria to the Libyan capital Tripoli. Turkey’s hostile involvement in Libya has definitely widened the division between east and west Libya.
The chaos which broke out in Libya in 2011 has reduced this oil-rich Arab state to a hub for terrorists, including ISIS, al-Qaeda and Chadian rebels. Also, in its bid to lay its hands on Libya’s gas and oil, Turkey has deployed hundreds of troops in the Libyan capital.
Knowing that Haftar’s LNA is the main obstacle to his plans in Libya, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, declaring himself the de facto ruler of this Arab state, said the Libyan general would not have a role in shaping the future of Libya.
Paradoxically, the Second Berlin Conference, which was held in June this year, stressed that the removal of Turkish troops and armed militias from Libya was a prerequisite for holding presidential and parliament elections in this Arab country on December 24.
Despite the international community’s firm demand in this regard, Turkey has refused to relinquish its belligerent stance on the international community’s firm appeal to help the Libyans celebrate a new and better future for their war-ravaged country.
On the other hand, apparently referring to the reappearance of Saiful-Islam, son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, in The New York Times weeks ago to pledge his participation in the presidential elections, the US embassy tweeted: “The United States supports the right of the Libyan people to select their leaders through an open democratic process and calls on key figures to use their influence at this critical stage to do what is best for all Libyans.” Saiful-Islam must have turned the tables on the MB-led armed militias in Tripoli, the seat of the Libyan national government, when he pledged to ‘take Libya back’.
Without tough sanctions on Ankara, special envoys and foreign ambassadors will keep going back and forth in Libya to no avail.
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