Libya's December elections quietly dropped from agenda

The UN representative will now focus on a national conference next year and economic reform

FILE PHOTO: Armed forces allied to internationally recognised government fight with armed group in Tripoli, Libya September 21, 2018. REUTERS/Hani Amara /File Photo
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The United Nations and Western powers have given up hope that Libya will hold elections in the immediate future, focusing on reconciliation first among rival factions locked in a cycle of conflict, diplomats say.

In May, France persuaded the major players in the North African country to verbally agree to elections on December 10 as a way of ending repeated rounds of bloodshed between competing factions that emerged after a 2011 Nato-backed uprising.

But weeks of fighting between rival militias in the capital Tripoli and deadlock between rump parliaments in Tripoli and the east has made that goal unrealistic, Western officials have now said.

Shelving the plans for presidential and parliamentary elections is the latest setback for the international powers that helped topple Muammar Qaddafi seven years ago before stepping back and seeing hopes for a democratic transition crumble.

Instead of pushing for a vote as a short-term goal, UN Special Envoy Ghassan Salame will focus his Thursday briefing to the Security Council on staging a national conference next year and fixing the economy, diplomats said.

FILE PHOTO: U.N. Envoy to Libya, Ghassan Salame speaks during an interview with Reuters in Tripoli, Libya March 28, 2018. REUTERS/Hani Amar /File Photo
UN Envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame. Reuters

The conference would aim to forge consensus in a country divided between hundreds of armed groups controlling mostly minimal territory, towns, tribes and regions.

Libya has two governments, a UN-backed administration in the capital and a largely symbolic eastern version aligned with influential veteran commander Khalifa Haftar, whose forces control much of the east.

Mr Salame will also push again for economic reforms to end a system benefiting armed groups that have access to cheap dollars due to their power over banks.

There was no immediate comment from the Tripoli-based government or the eastern-based parliament.

Diplomats say delayed reforms introduced in Tripoli in September, including a fee on purchases of foreign currency, can only partially ease Libya's economic woes as long as the central bank remains divided and predatory factions retain their positions.

The reforms have so far done little to improve conditions for ordinary Libyans hit by steep inflation and a cash crisis linked to the fall of the dinar on the black market.

For the militias, the sources said Mr Salame would outline a new "security arrangement" for Tripoli aimed at depriving them of control of key sites and integrating their members into regular forces — something that has proved elusive in the past.

Mr Salame is the sixth UN special envoy for Libya since 2011.

Talks to unify rival camps launched in September 2017, shortly after he took up his post, ground to a halt after one month with Gen Haftar's role a key sticking point. Many in western Libya oppose him, fearing he could use the position to seize power.

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Gen Haftar's Libyan National Army says it is committed to the election process, in which Gen Haftar himself is a possible candidate.

UN efforts to stabilise Libya have long been undercut by the divergent agendas of foreign powers.

The international community formally backs the transitional government in Tripoli, but Egypt and the United Arab Emirates have lent Gen Haftar support and European states including France courted the commander as his power grew.

Russia's defence minister Sergei Shoigu met the Libyan commander on Wednesday possibly signalling growing Russian interest in the conflict. Moscow has long backed Gen Haftar and he visited the Russian capital last year.

France led the push for elections, believing it could benefit from helping fix the Libya conflict, before realising the country was not ready for a vote, diplomats say.

"We have to accelerate the process, which is what Salame will say and push on with going to the ballot box," a French official said. "The calendar on elections will slip, but that's not a problem."

France has vied for influence with Italy, which has sought to protect its oil and gas interests and stem the flow of migrants crossing the Mediterranean by building ties in Tripoli, where it is the only Western country to fully reopen an embassy.

Italy is hosting a conference in Palermo next week, where Mr Salame's roadmap will be discussed. Russia is also expected to send high-level representatives.

In recent weeks, Western powers and the United Nations have quietly stopped talking about the election in December, without formally declaring it dead.

"The idea is now that Mr Salame will talk about a national conference and economic reforms so people hope the December 10 date will quietly pass away," said one source familiar with UN plans.

Elections remain the goal, but progress on the ground towards better governance and security were needed in place of "extended additional thinking sessions", said a senior US administration official.

"I think pinning everything on a single date for an election has not proved a successful strategy," the official said.

"We are personally less vested in a date than the quality of the election, and I do think we have some work to do."