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Libyan eastern strongman Khalifa Haftar backs the creation of a government in office until the elections

Libyan eastern strongman Khalifa Haftar backs the creation of a government in office until the elections

June 17 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Libyan Marshal Khalifa Haftar, considered one of the most prominent actors in national politics as commander of the forces in the east of the country, has given his support this Friday for the possible creation of a government in office until the holding of elections dated uncertain, designed to try to put an end to more than a decade of chaos and administrative bicephaly in the North African country.

In a statement posted on the Facebook page of his forces, the self-proclaimed Libyan National Army, Haftar has declared his support “without prejudice or exclusion” for the results of the latest meetings of the so-called 6+6 Committee, which includes members of the Tripoli authorities and their eastern rivals, who are based in Benghazi.

In these meetings, both parties have reached a principle of agreement, for the moment not ratified, which proposes two elections, one for the Presidency of the country, another for the future bicameral Parliament of unity, as the culmination of a road map guided by a provisional government . “We support,” Haftar points out in this regard, “the formation of a government of technocrats to oversee these elections in order to organize the elections and unify the country.”

The 6+6 contacts began at the end of May in the Moroccan city of Buznika and came to an end on June 7 without the presence of the presidents of the Eastern House of Representatives and the High Council of State located in Tripoli, Aguila Salé and Khaled al Masri, respectively, which already presaged that there would be no signing ceremony, although these guidelines that Haftar has endorsed late on Friday ended up being drawn up.

The statement, collected by The New Arab news portal, occurs at a time of relative calm that observers attribute to a state of political “check” between Tripoli and Benghazi, and after the expiration last Thursday of the period recommended by the envoy of the UN, Abdulaye Bathily, to decide on the aforementioned road map for some elections that could take place, always in the best of cases, at the end of this year.

One of the latest twists in the game came in May, when Libya’s eastern parliament suspended its self-proclaimed prime minister, Fazi Bashaga, for “corruption” and amid reports that Jaftar’s son Saddam and Ibrahim Dbeibé – – nephew of the prime minister of the Libyan government in Tripoli, Abdulhamid Dbeibé – reportedly held secret meetings under the auspices of CIA director William Burns, who allegedly asked them to create a joint military force to stabilize the country, according to reports from The New Arab.

This scenario once again leaves Haftar as the indisputable power to resolve the situation, despite the fact that the military’s detractors recall his failed military campaign four years ago to take Tripoli; a siege that he had to suspend in June 2020 after the intervention of Turkey in favor of the authorities of the capital. The dismissed Prime Minister Bashaga also tried to storm the city, without success, a failure that could have been the real reason for his suspension, according to the expert analyst of the Libyan Sadeq Institute study group, Anas El Gomati, to the Arab portal.

It should also be remembered that a federal court in Virginia (USA) convicted Haftar of war crimes in July last year after an open process thanks to the dual Libyan-American nationality held by the marshal. This circumstance represents, precisely, a problem for Haftar in the event that he wanted to attend the elections, given that the current regulations prohibit the participation of candidates with two citizenships.

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