Foreign Affairs Minister hopes for reconciliation by Libya’s HoR

It would be a shame if all efforts invested so far in UN-backed peace talks among warring factions in Libya fall through, Foreign Affairs Minister George Vella said.

Having been part of the initial peace talks led by UN special envoy Bernardino Leon, the Tobruk-based House of Representatives (HoR) surprised observers when on Monday it voted to suspend its participation in the talks.

The suspension comes after months of efforts by Leon to bring the rival governments round the table. Although the HoR – recognised internationally as the legitimate government – and the Tripoli government only communicated through intermediaries, the international community was hoping for the two to come together and form a national unity government.

Speaking to MaltaToday, Vella said that Natalya Apostolova – head of the EU delegation to Libya – had confirmed that the peace talks were now on hold.

“It would be a shame if the HoR were to completely pull out from the talks. So much effort was invested and, lately, we had also started seeing some progress that was encouraging,” he said.

Leon had called on the international community to allow the diplomatic process a second thought after a number of countries rallied around Libya’s and Egypt’s call for a UN-mandated intervention in Libya.

According to the Libya Herald, the HoR voted to suspend its participation in the peace talks because of last week’s bombing in Guba which killed 42 people. Sixty MPs out of 82 members present [from a total of over 200 Libyan MPs] voted in favour of the suspension.

“Attempts are currently underway to convince the HoR to change its position and continue with its participation in the peace talks. The situation is however still fluid,” Vella said, adding that he was trying to get in contact with Libya’s foreign minister, Mohammed al-Dairi.

It transpires that a group within the HoR believes that the UN, the US and the UK are “supporting” extremist factions because of their position in favour of the Tripoli-based government to join in the formation of a national unity government.

On the other hand, the main Islamic State force in Libya has “damned as infidels” both the HoR and the government in Beida and the Hassi regime in Tripoli, including the General National Congress, everyone linked to them and virtually all the military bodies in the country.

The Libya Herald reported that Battar, described as the main Islamist force in Derna, issued a warning on Misrata through a media office not to interfere in what it was doing.

Among the list of ‘infidels’, Battar has included “anyone who supports democracy”, the Libya Herald said.

“Battar also claimed that it was now active in Beida and Tobruk and would soon reach Tripoli and Misrata.”