The Libyan dialogue sessions are scheduled to resume in Morocco today, Thursday, after achieving understandings between the two delegations, at a time when the Government of National Accord called on the UN Security Council to carry out its duties and take decisive measures against what it described as the irresponsible actions carried out by the forces of retired Major General Khalifa Haftar, west of Sirte.

The informal consultations began last Sunday in the city of Bouznika, south of the Moroccan capital, Rabat, on the basis that they would last for two days, but were extended to Tuesday, before it was decided to resume Thursday.

The delegations of the Supreme Council of State and the Tobruk House of Representatives did not meet on Wednesday, which provided them with an opportunity to consult with their leaders, before announcing any initial agreement today, Thursday, regarding the mechanisms of appointment to sovereign positions.

In contrast to the UN-sponsored Geneva dialogue for a ceasefire and making the Sirte (north) and Jufrah (central) regions demilitarized, Bouznika's consultations are seeking - according to what Anadolu Agency reported - to amend Article 15 of the Skhirat Agreement regarding sovereign positions.

The article indicates in its first paragraph that the House of Representatives consults with the State Council (...) to reach consensus on the occupants of the leadership positions of the following sovereign positions: Governor of the Central Bank of Libya, Head of the Audit Bureau, Head of the Administrative Control Authority, Head of the Anti-Corruption Authority, President and members The High Electoral Commission, the President of the Supreme Court, and the Attorney General.

The second paragraph of the article clarifies that following the implementation of the first paragraph thereof, the approval of two-thirds of the members of the House of Representatives is required to appoint and exempt the occupants of the leadership positions for the sovereign positions indicated in the previous paragraph.

In view of the great division in the country between east and west, most of these sovereign institutions - if not all - have become divided and headed.

One of the objectives of the Bouznika consultations was to unify these sovereign institutions, taking into account current data.

Among the most important of these data is the stipulation of Article 15 of the Skhirat Agreement signed on December 17, 2015, that two-thirds of the deputies (126 out of a total of 188 deputies) agree to each sovereign office, while the number of Tobruk deputies does not exceed 23, and the deputies gathered in Tripoli reach their number. 84, and even their sum does not reach a full quorum, so amending this paragraph becomes necessary.

However, the biggest obstacle to Bouznika's consultations is agreement on specific names to assume the sovereign positions, and this issue may be postponed for further rounds.

A member of the State Council in Tripoli, Abdelkader Lahouili, denied - in a press statement to a French channel - that the two delegations mentioned the names of the personalities who will assume these positions.

After the Bouznika consultations are completed, each delegation will submit its results to its council for deliberation, as the head of the State Council stressed that they are preliminary, non-binding consultations.

The European Union intends to remove Agila Saleh from the European sanctions list (website of the Libyan Parliament)

Removed from the sanctions list

In a related development, Reuters quoted diplomatic sources as saying that the European Union intends to remove the name of the Tobruk Parliament Speaker Aqila Saleh from the list of European sanctions, and the sources indicated that the decision comes as an encouragement for the ongoing peace efforts to resolve the Libyan crisis, and to ensure that the European Union plays a pivotal role in any settlement.

At the end of last July, Khaled al-Mishri, the head of the Supreme Council of State in Libya, and the Speaker of the Tobruk Parliament, Aqila Saleh, visited the Moroccan capital, Rabat, simultaneously, but they did not hold a meeting together, and the matter was limited to separate meetings with Moroccan officials.

The two parties to the Libyan conflict signed a political agreement on December 17, 2015 in the Moroccan city of Skhirat, which resulted in the formation of a presidential council leading the reconciliation government, in addition to the extension of the parliament and the creation of a higher state council.

Mr. Taher Al-Sunni @TaherSonni, head of the Libyan mission in New York, informed the Security Council about three violations of Haftar's militia and his mercenaries west of Sirte ... to assure the world who seeks peace and is victorious in it and who seeks war and is fleeing from it pic.twitter.com/63w1qS3RML

- Colonel Pilot Muhammad Qununu - Libyan army spokesman (@LyArmySpox) September 9, 2020

Abuses by Haftar's forces

In conjunction with the resumption of political talks, the Government of National Accord informed the Security Council that Haftar's forces and mercenaries, stationed in the west of Sirte, have targeted locations of the GNA forces.

The Libyan representative to the United Nations, Taher al-Sunni, stressed that this targeting contradicts the declared ceasefire, and warned against the continuation of these violations, which he said reflected the intention of the leaders of Haftar's forces to reject the ceasefire and prevent Libya from reaching a land of safety and stability.

In the context, the Sirte and Jufrah Operations Room declared a state of emergency in the western axes of Sirte, and the Government of National Accord forces said that they had spotted an armed convoy of Haftar's forces of 80 military vehicles, moving from the Al-Jafra area to the Wadi al-Lud area southeast of the city of Misurata.

She added that these moves came in conjunction with 5 violations of the ceasefire declaration, and that came a day after the Accord Forces announced a general mobilization in the axes west of Sirte.

In another development, Mikhail Bogdanov, Deputy Russian Foreign Minister, announced the holding of Russian-French consultations on Libya, in the Russian capital, Moscow, on September 11th.

Bogdanov confirmed that the issue of establishing a demilitarized zone in Sirte and Al-Jufrah is under discussion, explaining that a decision in this regard must be made by the concerned Libyan parties.