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Tunis, 27 June 2021 - The Advisory Committee of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) concluded on Saturday, 26 June 2021, a three-day meeting, convened by UNSMIL at the request of LPDF members, in Tunis.

UNSMIL and members of the Advisory Committee commended the work of the Legal Committee in developing a draft constitutional basis for the holding of national parliamentary and presidential elections on 24 December 2021. During the meeting, the Committee reviewed various proposals submitted by the LPDF members on the constitutional basis necessary for holding these elections, as stipulated by the LPDF Roadmap and called for by the Conclusions of the Second Berlin Conference, as well as by Security Council resolution 2570 (2021).

The discussions took place in a positive atmosphere filled with a spirit of compromise. The Committee reached consensus formulas on many of the outstanding issues and will submit its recommendations to the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum for its consideration and appropriate decisions at its upcoming meeting on 28 June in Switzerland, after completing its ongoing consultations.

Advisory Committee members will meet again in Switzerland, before presenting their proposal to the LPDF plenary.

UNSMIL commends the members of the Advisory Committee for their spirit of national responsibility and tireless efforts to pursue a realistic and consensual formula that secures the holding of elections, in a safe environment, to respond to the aspirations of the Libyan people and their longing for lasting stability, sovereignty and democratic legitimacy of Libyas institutions and their elected representatives.

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LPDF Advisory Committee concludes its three-day consultative meeting in Tunisia - Libya - ReliefWeb

Saif al-Islam Gadhafi, son of the late Libyan autocratMoammar Gadhafi, hasnt been seen in public since his rebel captors released him from detention in 2017. But he appears now to be mulling a run for the presidency of the war-torn north African country in elections the United Nations and Western powers are pressing for in December.

The prospect of Saif figuring in the elections is unnerving Western diplomats and international democracy advisers, who say Libyas troubled peace process has enough major obstacles to overcome without Gadhafis son, a highly polarizing figure, getting involved.

What I hear is that he is more vengeful than conciliatory, says Mary Fitzgerald, a researcher and associate fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalization, Kings College London. Fitzgerald, a former Irish Times newspaper reporter, covered the 2011 Libyan civil war that ended withMoammar Gadhafis ouster and death.

Saif, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court on war-crime charges, has been talking via intermediaries with Western media. A major U.S. newspaper has conducted a formal interview with him, which is slated for publication next month, intermediaries say.

It is still rather unclear whether he is actually putting himself out there as a candidate. I will believe it only when I actually hear him or see him in video make that pitch, Claudia Gazzini of the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think tank, told VOA.

Hafed al-Ghwell, a Libyan-American and senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, says he doesnt think Saif has made up his mind. But if he does, I think he will have significant support, he adds.

Saifs candidacy would likely prove popular in the desert south of the country and among former Gadhafi loyalists and he might be able to persuade many ordinary Libyans, exhausted by a decade of strife, that he is the best bet for a stable future, say observers.

Risks

But his candidacy also risks triggering more violence. Earlier this year, pro-Gadhafi media in Libya claimed General Khalifa Haftar, a warlord who rules eastern Libya, and his son, Saddam, were plotting to kill Saif. Haftar has presidential ambitions. Some Islamists at the forefront of the 2011 uprising are also deeply opposed to a return of a Gaddafi family member.

There are certainly many, not only Islamists, who would kill him for his role during the revolution, if there is a chance, reckons Wolfgang Pusztai, who served in Libya as Austrias defense attach between 2007 and 2011, and is a senior advisor at the Austrian Institute for European and Security Policy.

There has been considerable talk in Libya since 2017 that Gadhafis second son, who during the last years of his fathers rule presented himself as a reformer, might one day try to stage a political comeback. Freed in June 2017 after six years as a prisoner of a militia in the town of Zintan, 136 kilometers southwest of Tripoli, Saif, aged 48, has been maneuvering behind the scenes.

Some Libyans say he could have saved his country much pain if he had split from his father on the eve of the 2011 uprising, which friends say he did seriously consider. If he had, it might have brought his father down without any fighting, they agree. The victorious rebels sentenced Saif to death in 2015 but a Tripoli court overturned the sentence and ruled there should be a new trial. Saif is believed still to be in Zintan.

Three of Saifs brothers were killed in 2011 an another two are in jail, in Libya and Lebanon. His sister Aisha lives in Oman in exile. His adopted sister Hana is married to one of his confidants and lives in Egypt.

Since 2011, Libya has been ensnared in dispute and violence with rival governments, militias and warlords, backed by a variety of foreign powers, battling for mastery.

Encouraged by the U.N. and Western powers, Libyan rivals agreed last March to a provisional administration, the Government of National Unity, GNU, to run the country until parliamentary and presidential elections are held on December 24. The temporary governments mandate runs out then.

Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken joined foreign ministers from 17 states, including Russia and Turkey, which both have military forces present in Libya, at a conference in Berlin to urge Libyas parliamentarians and factions to keep to the election timetable and to pass an election law. The European Union has warned it would consider imposing sanctions on any Libyan leaders who obstruct the process.

Hasty elections

But some observers fear the U.N. and Western powers may be in too much haste and might be repeating what they see as a mistake in 2012 in pressing for elections too early after Gadhafis ouster. Critics say there has been too much focus on a date for the elections and not enough on the process and what is needed to have elections, if they are to be widely accepted in Libya as legitimate.

Talks are deadlocked on an election law and over whether a referendum should be held first on a draft constitution, which would delay elections for months, if not longer.

On elections, we are still at a standstill as regards to a consensus on which elections to have, says Gazzini.

Despite the strong show of support for Presidential and Parliamentary elections in December voiced by the participants of the Berlin conference, Libyan constituencies remain divided on this. Plus there are some local stakeholders who are still pushing against, she adds.

Mary Fitzgerald worries especially about holding an election for a president. I think the idea of presidential elections is dumb anyway, and internationals should have nipped it in the bud sooner. Parliamentary, yes, but presidential without checks and balances in a place like Libya? I do acknowledge the need for parliamentary elections but presidential elections are such a bad idea, she told VOA.

Former Austrian defense attach Wolfgang Pusztai says there are few good alternatives.

Elections in December are not a very good option for Libya, but unfortunately there is no better one. The main obstacles on the way to elections are the lack of consensus about a constitutional basis for these elections and the disagreement about the way the president shall be elected. The main challenges for the elections themselves are the dire security situation in several parts of the country, including the greater capital region, he told VOA.

But Pusztai believes a president or better still a three-person presidential council is needed. A country in crisis like Libya needs a strong leader to overcome difficulties, at least for an interim period. This must not be confused with a dictator. The last 10 years have already clearly demonstrated how far a weak leadership can get.

Excerpt from:
Possible Presidential Run by Gadhafi's Son Adds Strain to Troubled Peace Process - Voice of America

Distinguished members of the LPDF Advisory Committee,

Ladies and Gentlemen

I would like to welcome you and thank you for participating in this meeting of the Advisory Committee, which has been convened at the request of members of the LPDF ahead of the in-person LPDF plenary session planned to start on the 28 June, graciously hosted by the Swiss Federal Government.

The plenary meeting of the LPDF will be convened in line with UN Security Council resolution 2570 (2021) and with the Conclusions of the Second Berlin Conference for Libya, which took place yesterday, and which strongly reconfirmed the full commitment of the international community to the UN-facilitated, Libyan-led and Libyan owned political process, including the 24 December elections and the sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and national unity of Libya.

As you know, Security Council Resolution 2570 called on the relevant authorities and institutions, including the House of Representatives, to take the actions set out in the LPDF roadmap to facilitate the 24 December 2021 Presidential and Parliamentary elections, which include clarifying the constitutional basis for elections and enacting necessary legislation by 1 July 2021 in order to allow the High National Elections Commission adequate time to prepare for elections according to the prescribed timeline. The resolution also called on the LPDF to take steps to facilitate the elections if necessary. We are very close to the 1 July deadline and the HOR has not moved, has not provided a solution yet. This is why we are convening the LPDF next week, and why your work remains of critical importance, as in the past.

As reiterated yesterday by the High Representatives of the members of the Berlin Process, which now also includes Libya, free, fair, and inclusive national Parliamentary and Presidential Elections need to take place on 24 December 2021 as agreed in the Roadmap adopted by the LPDF in Tunis, and their results need to be accepted by all.

As indicated in the agenda proposed for your consideration, we expect the present meeting to achieve two key objectives:

First, we expect you to pave the way for a successful LPDF meeting that would put an end to the current deadlock around the constitutional basis for the elections. To this effect, members of the LPDF developed several proposals that you have received before this meeting.

The proposals before you today include different options to overcome the differences and address many points made during the last virtual LPDF meeting on 26 and 27 May, during which the LPDF considered the proposal adopted by the Legal Committee of the LPDF.

Allow me here to take the opportunity to thank once more the Legal Committee that worked tirelessly on putting together their proposal. I also thank the LPDF members, inspired by the Libyan society that firmly supports holding of the elections, who have offered bridging proposals to the remaining outstanding points.

These proposals represent an opportunity for you to consider potential solutions that can facilitate holding the national elections on 24 December and to make a clear recommendation to the LPDF on a proposal that can serve as a constitutional basis for the holding of elections. Your role is critical in succeeding to bridge the remaining differences and enable the LPDF plenary next week to deliberate and reach an agreement with the largest possible support of its members.

I call on you to consider the broadest possible compromise, building on the Legal Committee proposal and LPDF discussions in May, a compromise, that would address concerns expressed by different LPDF members, noting that this could be an interim arrangement to enable the country to go to elections in December and move beyond the current transitional phase by restoring the democratic legitimacy of Libyan institutions.

We strongly encourage you to reach an agreement on a single proposal which you will recommend for adoption by the LPDF, preferably by consensus.

Bridging these gaps and reaching an inclusive compromise on the constitutional basis, based on the Constitutional Declaration and consistent with the Libyan legal system, will also facilitate its adoption by the competent legislative authority and the adoption of the requisite electoral legislation.

The second objective for you at this meeting is to make recommendations on a decision-making mechanism for the LPDF. It is our hope that an inclusive proposal on the constitutional basis will be further considered and endorsed with a large consensus by the LPDF.

In the past, you demonstrated the ability to reach a compromise that facilitated the decision-making and voting by the LPDF on the current Libyan interim executive authority.

I thank you, once again, for shouldering this heavy responsibility of helping your country to move toward institutional unity and stability through an inclusive democratic political process, which is the only path to securing unity, peace, and prosperity for Libya and its people.

UNSMIL stands by you to assist you in this difficult task and facilitate your work.

Thank you all

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Opening remarks for the Advisory Committee meeting of the LPDF Tunis, 24 June - Libya - ReliefWeb

At a key point during last week's Berlin II negotiations on Libyas political future, Turkeys foreign minister intervened to deal a blow to the communique as the conference concluded.

In the long oak-panelled room in a leafy part of the German capital, Mevlut Cavusoglu targeted Article V on the withdrawal of foreign troops from the country. The result was a single footnote to the entire document. [1] Turkey introduced a reservation, it said.

Officials who attended the meeting said Turkey insisted that its military forces in Libya enjoy exceptional status with a formal invite from the governing authorities preceding the current interim government. Turkey makes a distinction between these troops and the mercenaries many of them Syrian rebel militia members it has flown there and directed in frontline fighting.

Few need to be convinced that the Turkish government was flat out keeping its toehold in Libya. At a time when the whole Libyan diplomatic process is posited on the removal of foreign forces, Turkey is a stumbling block. After all, the clock is ticking on pledges to hold elections under a new constitution on December 24.

Amid the turmoil since the demise of Col Muammar Qaddafi, Libya has suffered two fundamental challenges: the encroachment on its sovereign ability to run its own affairs and a spread of extremist militias.

For once in a sorry decade, there is more than a sliver of hope in Libya. The German government has worked hard through the Berlin meetings in 2020 and 2021 to put the political process back together. Jan Kubis, the UN Secretary Generals special envoy, has gained valuable backing for his efforts through the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum.

There have been false dawns. Even compared with the elections in 2012 for Libyas national congress and those in 2014 for the House of Representatives, the current process is admittedly still in the gestation phase. The perils of trying to cobble together a national government from a peace accord process has already been illustrated in the failed 2015 negotiations in Morocco.

All the factions in Libya can somehow trace their authority such that it is from one of these episodes. All are now pretty much exhausted entities. That has given an opening to the interim government to work with the diplomats for a new start for the country.

Turkey appears wedded to the old structures that allowed it a landing point in Libya. Foreign Minister Najla Mangoush wants to see the withdrawal right away. When she last said that, government buildings were occupied in Tripoli in a clear act of intimidation.

Turkey sees a period of bartering ahead. Either directly with Russia or through diplomatic circles supporting the interim government, it could withdraw 300-odd Syrian mercenaries in return for a like-for-like concession.

The Turks, however, can count on a certain weariness on the side of others who nevertheless might see this as a tangible first step. After all, the UN Security Council's call for an immediate withdrawal of foreign forces hasnt worked. Neither has the 2020 ceasefire agreements 90-day deadline for withdrawal.

Turkey is a deadweight on Libya's efforts to escape a dark period in its history

In the clashes in the state room in Berlin, Mr Cavusoglu made several efforts for expanded language protecting the Turkish troop presence. His first push would have applied to the withdrawal of mercenaries only. Having failed to gain traction for that open door, the Turkish foreign minister moved for additional language to say that the withdrawal should be aligned with the terms of the ceasefire agreement thrashed out in Tunisia last year. That was rejected, too. The conclusions went ahead with the square brackets footnote above stuck at the end.

What the development demonstrated was how the energy behind the reconciliation process can be sapped by just one heavyweight player.

Turkey seeks not only to keep its uniformed presence on the ground in Tripoli and Misurata. It has also carved up the eastern Mediterranean basin by agreeing a deal for a common exclusive economic area in a Maritime Boundary Treaty it agreed with the defunct Government of National Accord last year. The European Parliament Research Service produced a report saying that the deal was breaking with republican tradition of Kemal Ataturk in Turkish foreign policy and a return to the imperial overreach that typical of the erstwhile Ottoman Empire.

The Turkey-Libya MoU effectively drew a dividing line between the eastern and western parts of the Mediterranean, threatening maritime security, natural gas exploration and new infrastructures such as the EastMed pipeline, it said. Turkey's behaviour, beyond its geoeconomic interests, reflects a more ambitious geopolitical 'neo-Ottoman' agenda intent on remodelling the whole region by spreading the country's influence from northern Iraq and Syria to Libya and leaving behind the Kemalist tradition of secularism and regional neutrality.

The opportunity for driving a solution in Libya is open. The moment is a good test of US President Joe Bidens claims to offer serious and well thought out leadership. What it will take is pressure to stand up for the principles of the Libyan state governing itself as a grown-up regional actor.

After Berlin, Libya's Interim Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah travelled to Downing Street to meet UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The two men were reported to have discussed the return of a looted statue of the goddess Persephone to Libya, which in its own way is an act of normalisation.

According to Greek legend, Persephone straddles the seasonal turning points between darkness and light. She escaped the underworld to bring the bounty of harvests but when the season changed, she had to return to hell.

That is as good as any summation of Libyas recent course. Turkey is a deadweight on its efforts to escape a dark period in its history.

Damien McElroy is the London bureau chief at The National

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Why Turkey is blocking Libya's path to peace - The National

To the editor: From the constitution's Fifth Amendment: "... nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation."

How much clearer can it be? Mortgage-holders and landlords in Massachusetts are being forced by the state to allow their creditors to stay on their property without paying their debt. The victims are the mortgage-holders and the landlords.

Prior to the pandemic, a homebuyer of mine chose to no longer make his monthly payments to me. The foreclosure process was started, but was stalled by the pandemic moratorium. As of this writing, the occupants have been in that house for nearly three years, without paying a cent. Meanwhile, I have to pay their insurance, taxes and fire district fees to protect the property. And, I have a mortgage of my own to pay, so I don't lose the property. All because the government orders it to be so.

It's delusional and naive for legislators to assume that these creditors will make up the missed payments they'll just move on to other housing accommodations. So where's my "just compensation"? I suggest that the compensation checks being doled out by state and federal authorities are probably better at supporting the vape shops, tattoo parlors and retail marijuana stores than paying rents and mortgages. How fair and just is that? Why am I forced by the government to let these people stay in my house?

We're all sympathetic to this situation where people have lost their livelihoods due to this pandemic. But what gives the government the authority to conscribe me to cure this? I submit that this should be the responsibility of all of us as a whole, not a select few. We all read about how difficult it is to find affordable housing. How do you think that this moratorium stuff is going to impact that? I suspect that there will be fewer folks staying in the landlord business after this, since now it's clearly understood that the government can arbitrarily trample on that Fifth Amendment right at any time.

I propose that these landlords and mortgage-holders be given tax credits to compensate for lost payment. I'm confident that the credits won't be abused any more than the stimulus checks.

Jon Macht, Pittsfield

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Letter: Where is our Fifth Amendment? | Letters To Editor | berkshireeagle.com - Berkshire Eagle