Libya's prime minister-designate presents cabinet list to parliament

Libya, which a few weeks ago celebrated the tenth anniversary of the uprising that led to the fall of Muammar Gaddafi's regime in 2011, is indeed in chaos, undermined by political divisions. However, the fall of Gaddafi did not bring the longed-for democracy, nor an improvement in the economic situation that the young and not-so-young people who took to the streets of Tripoli and other Libyan cities were demanding. Libya was plunged into an instability that none of the political attempts in the following years were able to reverse. The struggle for power between the different factions that emerged after the fall of Gaddafi deepened the fracture of a country that is now practically split in half, with a southern region that is on its own.

A new step forward for a country in search of stability: Libya's interim Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeiba handed over the composition of his government to the designated parliament on Thursday, hoping to get a vote of confidence from MPs on Monday. 

"In accordance with the road map," Dbeiba "handed over his proposals for ministerial portfolios to the president of the designated parliament before the 8 March session," his cabinet said in a terse statement, without making the list public. 

Abdul Hamid Dbeiba, Libya's prime minister-designate, wants to give his government the best chance of being accepted. The distribution of anonymous portfolios is intended to leave the door open for further debate in parliament. This discretion is considered of vital importance in a country torn apart by infighting. Dbeiba also does not reveal the number of his ministers, who will be "specialists" chosen with "a concern for regional balance" with respect to sovereignty portfolios. However, some names have already been leaked and his government will represent all political and social components, with special attention to women's participation.

His government, if it wins confidence, will have the heavy task of unifying the institutions of an oil-rich country of just seven million people, but undermined by division and violence since the fall of Gaddafi's regime. He will also have to steer the transition until the elections scheduled for 24 December. The future executive is supposed to replace both Fayez al-Sarraj's GNA and the rival eastern-based authorities of strongman Khalifa Haftar.

The ultimate goal is to try to meet the expectations of Libyans, who are suffering from cash and fuel shortages, electricity cuts and runaway inflation. Meanwhile, Libyan society, despite a substantial oil reserve, has had to suffer the devastation of years of war, with major supply problems, power and transport cuts and a continuing deterioration in the economic situation in which they live.

This is far from an easy task, and the new government will be formed within 21 days of the vote in Switzerland. It will also have an additional 21 days to obtain a vote of confidence in Parliament. This will take around a month and a half, which will not be easy and which must lay the foundations for the reconstruction of a country that has been mired in a civil war for seven years, making the formation of this new government extremely complicated.

It should be remembered that the two sides in the conflict, three if we count the tribes in the south of the country, have made progress in negotiations over the last few months to reach a transition agreement and put an end to this decade of chaos and war.  Split in two, with one parliament meeting in Tobruk and the other in Tripoli, Libya's legislative body appears at last to have agreed on a meeting place.  The leader of Libya's House of Representatives, Aguila Saleh, announced a plenary session on Monday to vote confidence in the government. It will be held in Sirte, midway between Tripoli (west) and Tobruk (east), the two main Libyan regions governed by separate authorities who are contesting power in the context of foreign interference. 

Although the vote will not take place on Monday, Dbeiba has until 19 March to win the confidence of the designated parliament based in Tobruk (east), according to the roadmap for the process set out by the UN. According to this roadmap established by the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum last November in Tunis, the parliament has 21 days to hold a plenary session and vote confidence in the government. If this is not possible, the composition of the government is presented to the member of the Political Dialogue Forum, who adopts it.

The first round, a month after the October signing of a ceasefire agreement between the GNA and LNA, was however marred by corruption and vote-buying, the UN Committee of Experts said in the annex to a still-confidential report revealed Sunday by AFP. 

The report is due to be formally presented to the 15-member UN Security Council in mid-March. According to a diplomatic source, Annex 13, which deals with corruption, may not be made public.

The release of excerpts from the document has sparked several protests in Libya, with MPs calling for the 8 March session to be postponed until the report is officially released.

A UN advance team arrived in Libya a few days ago to prepare for the organisation's involvement in monitoring the ceasefire in force in the country, spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said on Wednesday.

This is a first step requested by the Security Council in view of an eventual deployment of international observers to monitor the ceasefire agreed last October.

The spokesman explained to journalists that this "small team" will analyse the situation in collaboration with the 5+5 military committee - made up of representatives of the two governments in conflict to date - and will pass on its conclusions to the special envoy for Libya, Jan Kubis.

The analysis will also serve as the basis for a report that the Security Council has requested from UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

The ceasefire agreement provided for the participation of international observers to monitor the situation in the country, where the parties have also reached an agreement on the departure of thousands of foreign mercenaries involved in the conflict.

The withdrawal of these forces is one of the key responsibilities of the new transitional government established by the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LDPF), an unelected body set up 'ad hoc' by the UN, which is to lead the country to elections scheduled for December.