Madjed Berhoumi, political scientist, Director of Maghreb Research, Study and Documentation Centre said in an interview with Reporters that any agreement must be concluded in perfect cohesion with all the stakeholders.
Interview :
Reporters: Two officials from Benghazi and Tripoli, Aguila Salah and Al Suweihili, have met recently for the first time in Rome. What importance is given to their meeting today?
Madjed Behroumi: It is clear that this is an important meeting that brings together two major stakeholders in the Libyan political scene. It is a meeting between the group of Khalifa Haftar and that of Fayez Al Saraj. Aguila Salah gets his legitimacy of the ballot, being the president of the House of Representatives, as for Abderrahmane Suweihili, he enjoys the support of the international community by being president of the High Council of State. So a possible rapprochement between the Parliament of Tobruk (to which access to Tripoli is banned) and the High Council of State, supported on the international level as I mentioned, will only serve the Libyan cause. Besides, Italy, a member representative of NATO, hosted this meeting. And NATO seems to be in agreement with the Russian vision, knowing that Russia is the most powerful in the Libyan conflict. Consequently, Putin’s country can order the enemy brothers to stop killing each other and help peace resume in Libya.
UN special envoy to Libya, Martin Kobler, spoke about an amendment to the Skhirat agreement. What is the content of this amendment do?
The Skhirat agreement was, in my view, doomed to failure. And I think it will not be successful even if we think of its amendment-improvement, for one simple reason: the agreement was concluded in a false place and those who participated in the dialogue did not represent all the currents and stakeholders of the Libyan political scene. Even worse, it tried to favour one party over another, which motivated Parliament not to ratify it. If there is an amendment, I think it will respond to the grievances of the Libyan Parliament and Haftar, reinforced more than before after the involvement of Russia, Egypt, U.A.E, Jordan and even Chad, with its president Idriss Deby, whom I suppose France is behind the commitment in the Libyan crisis. And the complaints of the Libyan Parliament will not save the Skhirat agreement or bring peace and security back to this torn country for years, because many Libyan actors have not participated in its elaboration. In addition, it would be possible that the Muslim Brotherhood current is not satisfied with the amendments that can be made. A fact, that will inevitably lead to the explosion of the situation, especially by the two groups Khalifa El Ghouil and Salah Badi.
Algerian minister Abdelkader Messahel, who said he was in favour of a meeting between Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt, warned that this meeting must be the culmination of a process, not the beginning. Is there any discrepancy between these three countries in the assessment of the Libyan file between the Libyan neighbours who were to meet yesterday in Algiers. And what is the expectation?
Absolutely, there is a significant difference and divergence between the three countries over the Libyan issue. Indeed, Egypt supports Marshal Haftar, classifying the currents of the Muslim Brotherhood in the category of terrorist. While in Tunis, an important part stands in favour of the Islamist currents, if one refers, for example, to Ennahdha movement, knowing that the Tunisian government supports the Government of National Accord led by Al Sarraj and, on the other hand, the Parliament of Tobrok. Despite this, the Libyan parties accuse Tunisia of bias and cannot, therefore, contribute to the settlement of the Libyan crisis. Concerning the meeting in Algiers, I take seriously the words of Messahel. But it should be pointed out that any agreement that will come under the auspices of the neighbouring countries must be concluded in perfect cohesion with all the stakeholders involved in the Libyan crisis. Any agreement must satisfy not only the Libyans, but Russia and NATO as well, which has the key to the solution, as they can hinder any agreement that does not go with their interests.
Reporters (Meriem Kaci)/Translated by TunisianMonitorOnline (MNHN)
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