Meeting of the French envoy Paul Soler (center) with the Vice President of the Libyan Presidential Council, Musa Al-Koni (right) (Al Jazeera)

Tripoli -

Diplomatic sources in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, revealed to Al Jazeera Net that the Prime Minister of the National Unity Government, Abdul Hamid Dabaiba, refused to receive the French special envoy to Libya, Paul Soler, who was scheduled to meet him on Saturday (February 10) during a visit to the capital for a decade. Discussions with parties to the Libyan crisis.

The sources said that Al-Dabaiba left for Dubai to participate in the World Government Summit, held from February 12 to 14, with the participation of heads of state, government, and international organizations.

The same sources stated that Dabaiba’s position was against the backdrop of Paris organizing - over the past period - meetings with Libyan political figures opposed to him and loyal to retired Major General Khalifa Haftar to discuss the possibility of calling for the formation of a new transitional government in the country in consultation with the United Nations and the countries concerned with Libya.

Al Jazeera Net sources added that the mechanism for forming this government is to invite the heads of the Presidential Council, the House of Representatives, and the Supreme Council of State to find a consensual formula to change the government and present this to the UN envoy to Libya, Abdullah Batili.

The French Special Envoy to Libya Paul Soler (left) also met with the President of the Libyan Presidential Council, Mohammed Al-Menfi (Al-Jazeera)

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The sources described this Paris step as a circumvention of the Batelli initiative, which announced months ago what was known as the five-party dialogue table in which Dabaiba participates, and explained that it is consistent with the desire of Haftar, who demanded the exclusion of Dabaiba from the dialogue table.

She indicated that there was intelligence information - as she put it - with the Dabaiba government that France was behind the attempt of the parallel and internationally unrecognized government led by Fathi Bashagha at the time in the east of the country to control the capital by force of arms through armed clashes in late August 2022, which claimed the lives of more than one person. 40 civilians.

The French envoy met - in Tripoli - with the President of the Presidential Council, Mohamed Al-Menfi, and his deputy, Musa Al-Koni, and confirmed in statements that his country continues to consult with “countries interested in the Libyan issue” to achieve stability and hold elections in an appropriate environment in which all Libyans participate and whose results are satisfied by the participants.

Al-Manfi described the French role in his country as “pivotal and unlimited in preparation for holding free, fair and transparent elections as soon as possible.”

Paris shows remarkable interest in southern Libya, which borders sub-Saharan African countries, and this is what prompted Soler to meet with the representative of the south in the Presidential Council, Musa al-Koni, who considered that “efforts to secure the borders, especially the southern ones, to confront the threats of the flow of migration, terrorism, and cross-border organized crimes, constitute an important point.” for cooperation between the two sides.”

The French embassy in Libya announced that its envoy’s discussions with Al-Manfi and his deputy focused on the necessity of heading towards presidential and legislative elections as soon as possible and discussed how to end the impasse and create an appropriate environment for the elections.

Soler met, at the headquarters of the UN mission in Tripoli, with Batelli, but their announcement of the results of the meeting was different, as the embassy said that the meeting discussed supporting efforts made to reach a political agreement for a unified government to organize elections.

As for Batelli, he announced that he agreed with Soler on the need for Libya’s regional and international partners to fulfill their responsibility in facilitating a sustainable solution that ends the current situation and protects the country from sliding again into a long-term conflict that may expose its territorial integrity to serious danger.

Abdullah Batili (left) shaking hands with Speaker of the Libyan House of Representatives, Aguila Saleh (Al Jazeera)

An international initiative

For its part, Germany sent its member of parliament, Tobias Bächerle, to Tripoli to meet with Libyan parties and UN envoy Batelli, where Tobias later confirmed that his country is ready to support the success of the Libyan political process through holding electoral elections.

On February 8, the US Embassy in Libya announced that the United States will continue to encourage support for a credible electoral road map to ensure the holding of national elections through the Battili Initiative for dialogue between the main parties and actors in the Libyan crisis.

Last November, Batelli announced his initiative to hold a five-party dialogue to discuss the controversial points in the electoral laws that prevent holding elections, but it has faced rejection from parties in the Libyan crisis so far.

These five parties are the head of the National Unity Government, Abdel Hamid Al-Dabaiba, the head of the Presidential Council, Mohamed Al-Manfi, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aguila Saleh, the head of the Supreme Council of State, Mohamed Takala, and retired Major General Khalifa Haftar.

Batelli describes the Libyan crisis as “intractable” and is trying, through tours in eastern and western Libya and in regional countries, to mobilize support to save his initiative, which is facing collapse due to the vast disparity between the parties to the crisis, some of which are supported by regional parties that supported wars over control of Libya in previous years.

Haftar and his political ally, Aguila Saleh, reject Batelli's initiative, which stipulates the participation of Dabaiba, whom they consider "the head of a usurping government that has lost its legitimacy and whose legal term has expired." They require the participation of the head of the parallel government in the east of the internationally unrecognized country, Osama Hammad, in the dialogue.

Aguila Saleh also stipulates that the dialogue produce an agreement to form a new transitional government that prepares to hold elections, which Al-Dabaiba and Takala reject.

Batelli stressed to Saleh - in a previous meeting between them - the need for all leaders to participate positively in the dialogue to reach a political settlement to end the stalemate that is causing great suffering to the Libyans.

When Saleh - according to his media office - presented to Batili the necessity of forming a unified government to supervise the elections, Batili responded that there was a need to reach a comprehensive and consensual solution that would end the transitional period and provide stability in the long term.

An official meeting in the city of Benghazi between the UN envoy to Libya Abdullah Batili and members of the mission, with retired Major General Haftar and his forces (Al Jazeera)

Controversial matter

Batelli still considers - according to previous statements - the issue of forming a new government in Libya to be a controversial matter between the parties to the crisis, and he called for its discussion in the five-party dialogue, in addition to controversial topics such as electoral laws that are rejected by parties led by the Dabaiba government and the Supreme Council of State.

So far, Aguila Saleh has not met with Takala, who accused the House of Representatives and its former speaker of issuing electoral legislation unilaterally in violation of the Libyan political agreements that specified several tasks for the Supreme Council of State, most notably its partnership with the House of Representatives in issuing election laws.

On the other hand, Al-Dabaiba insists that his government be the last transitional government in Libya, and he informed this to the American embassy in his country through his government’s Minister of State for Political Affairs and Communication, Walid Al-Lafi, who assured the American Chargé d’Affaires, Jeremy Brent, that the government’s vision for the dialogue is to end all stages. Transitional transition by going directly towards elections held in accordance with fair and enforceable laws.

Armed factions and leaders of security and military services in western Libya confirmed to Batelli their refusal to form a new transitional government while supporting his initiative for dialogue. Batelli stressed that “Libya belongs to all Libyans, and it should not be a hostage to any group or group of individuals.”

The UN envoy announced that he agreed with Haftar - during his meeting in the city of Benghazi - on the need to accelerate collective efforts to put the country on the electoral path as soon as possible, and to unify Libyan institutions, and that he stressed to Haftar the need to implement the relevant Security Council resolutions related to the withdrawal of forces, foreign fighters and mercenaries from the country. Libya.

Source: Al Jazeera