Africa steps up its involvement in efforts to end the Libyan crisis

Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - After being on the sidelines of efforts to end the Libyan crisis for a long time, the African Union (AU) appears to be taking up its rightful place in negotiations to bring peace to the North African country.

And the preparatory meeting of AU experts in the Congolese capital, Brazzaville, from 12-15 July at which they came up with an African roadmap focused on national reconciliation as a keystone towards stability leading to peace, general elections, permanent institutions, is a reflection of the return of Africa's involvement in the Libyan.

The preparatory consultations for the intra-Libyan national reconciliation conference were hosted by Congo, which chairs the African Union's High Level Committee on Libya.

The Congolese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Francophonie and Congolese Abroad, Jean-Claude Gakosso, and under the high patronage of President Denis Sassou Nguesso, Chairman of the African Union High Level Committee on Libya, called the meeting which brought together representatives of Parliament, the Presidential Council, as well the former regime.

A technical committee for the supervision and monitoring of the African roadmap for reconciliation was established under the chairmanship of the strategic adviser to the Chairperson of the AU Commission, Professor Mohamed El-Hacen Lebatt.

The roadmap adopted in Brazzaville has as its main objective the promotion of the unity in a systematic and gradual manner in accordance with the general framework of the strategic vision for national reconciliation developed by experts from the National Planning Council and the Centre for the Study of Law and Society at the University of Benghazi.

This vision was approved and launched on 26 June in Tripoli by the Presidential Council as a national strategy.

Other recommendations include the total rejection of any form of internationalisation of the Libyan crisis and the need to remove anything that hinders the path to reconciliation.

They expressed the commitment to the idea that reconciliation should be a project from which no political, military and social component is excluded; the condemnation of the use of hate speech, incitement to brawl, acts of violence, contempt, insults, slander, arrogance and other attitudes and behaviours that are contrary to fraternity, understanding and solidarity.

The African experts said in order to achieve these designs, primacy must be given to justice, equity, reparation, recognition of the rights of victims of war and division, and the release of prisoners as a basic principle of national reconciliation.

The Congolese Foreign Minister stressed the need to restore peace and stability to the North African country so that it regains its role in the construction of the African integration and liberation project.

He also stressed the need to mobilise all local, African and international energies for peace, tolerance, reconciliation, stability, democracy and development.

This renewed African interest reveals the determination of the continent not to be excluded from the Libyan issue, which is undergoing a new evolution in the context of the search for a new multipolar world order underpinned by the war in Ukraine, a manifestation of the arm wrestling match between the US-led West against Russia and its traditional allies.

But the AU efforts to work towards a solution in Libya is not new, for throughout the years of the crisis in Libya in the wake of the 17 February 2011 revolution that toppled Muammar Gaddafi's regime, the continental body worked to contribute to a negotiated political solution.

In 2015, on the margins of an AU summit, a regular consultation mechanism of Libya's neighbours, including Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Niger, Sudan and Tunisia, was set up to meet on border security with a view to ensuring the stability of the region affected by the situation in the country.

These efforts were crowned by a growing interest on the part of the AU, which has set up an AU High-Level Committee on Libya, chaired by the Congo, with South Africa, Niger, Sudan, Algeria, Mauritania, Tunisia, Guinea, Chad and Egypt as members.

The AU summit last February in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, marked a turning point in the continental organisation's strategy of deep involvement in the Libya issue, demanding to be more closely associated by the United Nations in the political process.

The African leaders drew up a roadmap outlining the way forward for a solution, comprising essentially the organisation of a National Reconciliation Conference, which was postponed due to the military offensive against Tripoli launched on 4 April 2019.

These efforts were torpedoed by the big powers who wanted to fulfil their ambitions to serve their own interests by grabbing the country's wealth and engaging in a proxy war in Libya.

The AU is also seeking to become more involved by insisting that the next head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) and the Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Political Mediation in Libya should be from Africa.

Moreover, the efforts in recent days by the United States, which has increased contacts with the AU, courting member countries and African representatives on the Security Council, reflects this concern of Washington to influence Africa's choice for the next UN Special Envoy in Libya.

In this context, the Special Envoy and Ambassador of the United States in Libya, Richard Norland, met on Thursday in Brazzaville with Congolese President Sassou Nguesso, on the Libyan crisis.

Norland discussed efforts to appoint a new UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy to Libya with African Union Commission (AUC) Chairperson Moussa Faki.

Earlier, together with the US Ambassador to the AU, Jesse Lapenn, the US Ambassador to Libya met with his counterparts from AU member states, including the Algerian and Chadian ambassadors and representatives of African countries currently members of the UN Security Council.

The UN Security Council has not succeeded, since the resignation last November of the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary General to Libya, Slovak Jan Kubis, to agree on a personality to take over.

This prompted the head of the UN, Antonio Guterres, to circumvent this obstacle by appointing the American diplomat, Mrs. Stephanie Williams, as a special adviser to complete the good offices of mediation in coordination with the local parties and countries in the region.

The UN Security Council will hold two sessions this month on Libya, the first of which will take place on 25 July, to hear the briefing of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), and the second session will be held on 28 July.

The appointment of a new UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy to Libya will also be among the topics of the upcoming sessions on Libya.

This willingness of Africa to contribute to the search for a solution in Libya has also raised questions among analysts as to the means available to the African continental organisation to achieve its ambitions in an issue as thorny as it is complex, with the backdrop of foreign interference by regional and international powers protecting their interests.

Libya is now at a crossroads with two rival governments and a stalled electoral process, increasing the risk of military confrontation between the conflicting camps, even though new alliances are on the horizon.

-0- PANA BY/IS/BBA/MA 17July2022