Libya: is Algiers one’s last hope?

Peace talks between two governments are ongoing to Algiers. National unity is necessary to stop the Isis advance and the humanitarian emergency in the Mediterranean Sea.

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“Neither side is strong enough to win”. So Bernardino Leon has opened the two days of peace talks (3 and 4 June) in Algiers. This summit between the Tobruk government, supported by the international community, and to the Tripoli, supported by Qatar and Turkey could be the last one “to find a political solution”, Head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya said.

Leon’s thought is echoed by Abdelkader Messahel, Minister for Maghreb and African Affairs of Algeria: “We have to join efforts and make them converge to capitalize on the results achieved so far in an attempt to reach a national unity government to fight terrorism and to create conditions to ensure a peaceful transition towards the establishment of democratic institutions and stable”.

Meanwhile, terrorist attacks are going on the internal front. Last Sunday, 5 Fajr Libya militants were killed after a kamikaze detonated a car bomb near Misrata. The Islamic State claimed the responsibility on Tweeter. This cruent action was due to Fajr Libya affinity to Tripoli government e to oil wells’ control in the province of Jaffa. Indeed, Daesh is aiming for Libya central territory’s conquest as it wants to isolate Daesh to Sebha.

The international front is uncertain too. After opening of the Tripoli government, concerning an EU mission against the smugglers, Ibrahim Dabbashi, Libya’s Ambassador to the UN, has rejected this hypothesis: “As long as the European Union and its partners will do not discuss with the legitimate government, the only one representative of the Libyan people, there will be no approval on our part”.

These words make more important the Leon’s work. The push toward national unity government maintains a dual purpose: stopping the advance of the Isis and reaching an agreement between Libya and the International Community to fight human trafficking in the Mediterranean.
Giacomo Pratali

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