The leader of the Libyan Parliament in Tobruk and the Marshal of the Libyan National Army start a round of contacts to talk about security, oil and the initiatives that took place in Morocco and Geneva

Haftar and Saleh arrive in Cairo for talks

photo_camera PHOTO/AFP - Khalifa Haftar, Aguila Saleh and Sarraj during a meeting in Paris in 2018

The commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA) Khalifa Haftar and the head of the Libyan House of Representatives Aguila Saleh arrived in Cairo on Tuesday for talks with Egyptian officials, Al-Arabiya News reported.
According to the Saudi newspaper, Haftar is expected to meet at this meeting to discuss a series of measures, such as those that took place at the Geneva and Moroccan summits on the Libyan issue: holding elections, distributing oil centres and forming a new government.

The leader of the LNA went to the Egyptian capital accompanied by a military delegation and will meet the head of the Egyptian committee in charge of Libyan affairs, as well as the Egyptian officials and military in charge of coordinating the situation in Libya.

The aim of Cairo is to close the gap between the two factions, as well as to solve the oil problem. Coordination between Libra and Egypt covers many issues, particularly terrorism. Egypt, which together with Russia supports the Tobruk-based Libyan Parliament, opposes the GNA (supported by the UN and Turkey) and welcomed the ceasefire agreement announced in August. 

Saleh called for the restructuring of the current executive authority stemming from the political agreement signed in Skhirat and the selection of its members to ensure the representation of the three historic regions of Barqa, Tripoli and Fezzan. For his part, Marshal Haftar said that the political agreement would be abandoned and that he would accept leadership through a "people's mandate". 

Milicias del GNA en Libia

According to Al Arabiya, Haftar was not expected to arrive in Egypt and instead was to be assisted by the head of the Libyan army's control authority, but due to developments and the intention of the Government of National Accord (GNA, headed by Fayez Sarraj) to establish an army in the country, this move moved Haftar. 

It was Salah al-Nimroush, defence minister in the GNA, who announced the "beginning of the implementation of programmes to build and develop his government's army with Turkey's help".

In addition to security issues, Libyan oil will also be discussed. Last week Haftar announced the resumption of oil production in the country, provided that oil revenues "are not used to finance terrorism". In a televised speech, the official stressed that the country's oil activity will be resumed "with all the necessary conditions and procedural measures that ensure a fair distribution of its financial revenues," referring to the alleged agreement with the authorities in the west of the country. 

GNA's deputy prime minister, Ahmed Maiteeg, said a committee would be formed to oversee the fair distribution of dividends. "The committee will have the task of coordinating the work of the parties, the joint preparation of the budget and the transfer of funds to make payments and cover the public debt", the deputy prime minister said in local Libyan media. This weekend, the Libyan Oil Corporation announced "the lifting of the state of force majeure over safe oil fields and ports", but said the measure would remain in effect for facilities where the fighters still remain. 

Milicianos del LNA, liderados por Haftar

It should be remembered that the LNA of Haftar and the allied forces, including mercenaries of the Wagner Group of Russia, control some of the biggest oil fields and export ports of the North African country.

First steps to the solution

In recent weeks the Libyan countryside has witnessed rapid changes with the declaration of the ceasefire by the GNA led by Sarraj and the Parliament led by Saleh. Besides, conferences have been held in Geneva and Morocco, a country that is playing a key role in the Libyan peace process. 

Under the auspices of the "Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue" and in the presence of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya, several Libyan personalities from both sides met in Switzerland from 7th to 9th September to speed up the resumption of the UN-led Libyan political dialogue conference. This meeting noted the need to hold presidential and parliamentary elections at the end of an 18-month period in accordance with a "constitutional framework". 

At the beginning of the summer, Egypt announced an initiative called the "Cairo Declaration" proposing a Libyan resolution as a basis for resolving the conflict, without foreign interference and based on the efforts of the international community such as the Berlin Conference.

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