Panafrican News Agency

Libyan media highlight difficulties of military escalation

Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - Obstacles to the resumption of the political process in Libya due to the military escalation and the African Union's proposal to help monitor the ceasefire were among the subjects treated by the Libyan newspapers this week.
 
The media also reported on the economic situation in the absence of a budget for 2020 while calls for an austerity are increasing in the context of the closure of ports and oil fields resulting in huge financial losses for the country.
 
Al-Wassat newspaper reported that, as has been the case with oil production facing obstacles since 2011, "the state of force majeure" has turned into a syndrome that haunts every international diplomatic move to solve the Libyan crisis.

In an article entitled "Military escalation and the political process is still stalling", the Libyan weekly Al-Wassat appearing in Cairo, Egypt, quoted the Envoy of the UN in Libya, Ghassan Salamé, as saying that "the decisions of the Security Council are not implemented overnight".      

The newspaper concluded that between the multiplicity of diplomatic decisions and initiatives and the divergence of regional and international positions, the Libyan citizen remains the only loser in this "big game".

It said Libya still has had no real source of money since on 18 January when oil installations were shut down by the Libyan National Army with financial losses of nearly $1.650 billion dollars in a month.
  
Afrigatenews newspaper focused on the repeated violations of the truce and the African Union's (AU) intention to deploy a military observer mission in Libya as soon as it is certain that the ceasefire is being respected.
 
Afrigatenews, a Libyan electronic newspaper, quoted the AU Commissioner for peace and security, Ismail Chergui, as saying that only the commitment of Libyan parties will ensure a solution to the crisis.

Chergui said that deploying a military observer mission to monitor the ceasefire agreement will be one of his tasks to ensure contact with the Libyan parties, while the possibility of sending a joint assessment mission to the pre-deployment operation will be discussed with the United Nations.
 
He regretted that the truce had been violated on several occasions by the parties to the conflict while the arms embargo has not been respected by the various parties. 

Under the headline, "Libya Without Financial Arrangements Against Calls for Reduced Spending," the Al-Wassat newspaper wrote that the delay in adopting the budget was reflected in the debate between the Government of National Accord (GNA) and the Libyan Central Bank on spending. This is as Finance Minister Faraj Boumtari has accused the Central Bank of slowing approval of this year's budget after it was presented more than four months ago.
 
It quoted the Minister of Finance as saying that "the draft budget was submitted on October 9 of last year to the Council of Ministers of the Government of National Accord for discussion, which in turn sent it back to the relevant authorities in accordance with the political agreement, which stipulates the need to consult the government and the Accounting Office and the Central Bank of Libya to approve the budget".
 
But the Central Bank said that no financial arrangement for the year 2020 had yet been adopted, despite repeated requests from the Central Bank to the authorities since last September.
 
-0- PANA BY/IS/KND/MA 22Feb2020