By Libya Herald reporter.
Tunis, 11 June 2015:
Tensions and splits have emerged in . . .[restrict]the House of Representatives’ (HoR) camp as the HoR has initially rejected the fourth draft of the Libyan peace agreement presented by Bernardino Leon in Skhirat Morocco on 8 June.
”The fourth draft of the agreement contains some positive ideas that could extricate Libya from the current crisis it is going through” said Abubaker Baera, member of the HoR Skhirat negotiation team.
Baera did not give the fourth draft a complete thumbs up, qualifying that ‘’Despite some of the points which seem negative; but with the nation going through in a serious slide this may make us discuss all options to seek consensus and to save the nation and the citizen, and to alleviate the suffering of the people’’.
Baera quite clearly did not agree with his fellow representatives’ knee-jerk reaction back in Tobruk who chose to vote against the fourth draft immediately.
”We as a Parliament are not the only player on the political scene, and it is necessary at this critical stage in the history of the nation, to do some reforms and partial concessions to save the people from where they are’’, he explained striking a conciliatory tone.
”There is no alternative to us in engaging in dialogue with the international community, which has put the Libya issue on its list of priorities right now’’, he added, justifying his decision to travel on to Berlin for further talks with the international community, in defiance of HoR orders to return home.
”We must also not forget that there are failed political segments trying, unfortunately, to disrupt the dialogue since its beginnings – as they feel they have missed the train of history and political events’’, Baera said referring to some hardliners in the HoR camp.
”Each day that the political dialogue is delayed in resolving the current crisis, pushes the country more and more into the corridors of the unknown, and increases the suffering and pain of Libyan people’’, he warned, highlighting the bigger outlook.
It is not clear where this leaves the Leon-led dialogue as the international community has suggested there is to be ”no fifth or sixth draft” and Leon has always set the beginning of the fasting month of Ramadan – next week – as the deadline for signing the agreement.
If the HoR does not quickly backtrack from its kneejerk rejection of the fourth draft and no agreement is signed prior to the start of fasting next week, it is very unlikely that any further progress will be achieved until the first week of August.
It is not clear where this would leave the position of Leon who has failed to get the two parties to reach a compromise agreement. It is also unclear what the next steps for the international community and the Europeans particularly as with the peak season for illegal migration looms.
More importantly, it is not clear where it leaves the beleaguered Libyan people and the country, frozen in a state of inactivity coming up to a year in July, and fast running out of foreign currency reserves to pay the bloated state sector’s salary bill. [/restrict]
