| Submit your comments on this article |
| Africa North |
| Libya Dawn says Zintanis must surrender before any ceasefire |
| 2015-03-03 |
| [Libya Herald] Both the House of Representatives (HoR) and the General National Congress have agreed to turn up on Thursday to the next round of the UN-brokered dialogue process, to be held in Morocco. The HoR, which had pulled out of the process a week ago following the bombings in Guba, performed its U-turn following talks in Tobruk between members of its dialogue committee and UN Special Envoy to Libya Bernadino Leon. He had flown in to try and convince the HoR to change its mind. Nonetheless, according to Benghazi HoR member Aisa Al-Araibi, the House laid down a number of conditions for rejoining the dialogue. These are that the international community accept that it is the only legitimate parliament in Libya, that any government of national unity which emerges from the dialogue process must be approved by it, and that it is understood that the Libyan army is fighting terrorism. Leon then flew to Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... to meet the General National Congress' dialogue committee. This evening, following the meeting, Deputy Congress President-for-Life Saleh ... exemplifying the Arab's propensity to combine brutality with incompetence... Makhzoum, the leader of its delegation to the talks, announced that his group would go to Morocco on Thursday. He also stressed that Congress wanted to find a solution. Despite the breakthrough, hopes for a halt to the fighting appear remote. Last Thursday, Leon was in Zuwara meeting commanders of Libya Dawn ...aka Fajr Libya, the Islamist operation launched to counter that of General Khalifa Haftar (Operation Dignity). It is made up of the Libya Shield militia (Misrata and Moslem Brotherhood), Libya Revolutionaries Operations Room (Moslem Brotherhood), and Tripoli Brigade (close to Abdul Hakim Belhaj, head of Al-Watan party). Financing and moral support come from Turkey and Qatar... to encourage them to accept a ceasefire in support of the dialogue. Despite reports that the military Joint Operations Room, which includes Libya Dawn, had accepted the need for a ceasefire as well as a statement from UNSMIL that "the participants agreed on the principle of a ceasefire and underlined the need to end the bloodshed in Libya and engage in dialogue", Libya Dawn's media office has said that "no ceasefire agreement was reached." |
| Posted by:Fred |