Algiers has postponed the Libyan dialogue it planned to host from 15 to 16 September, rescheduling it for one week later, on 23 and 24 September. The delay comes as Bernadino Leon, UN envoy to Libya and head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), continues to meet with warring factions in western Libya. Libyan sources told Al-Ahram Weekly that Algerian officials asked for a further week to give intermediaries more time to convince rival factions in Libya to come to the talks in Algiers. Some of the factions have expressed reservations over the presence of certain individuals at the planned talks. The Weekly has learned that among those who scheduled to attend are Ahmed Qadhaf Al-Damm, former coordinator for Libyan-Egyptian relations during the Gaddafi era, retired General Khalifa Haftar, the commander of Operation Dignity, and General Ali Kana, a senior official from the Gaddafi regime. Meanwhile, the Algerian daily Al-Khabar, citing unnamed sources, attributed the delay to the fact that the talks, as originally scheduled, would have clashed with meetings between UN officials and Libyan authorities. Al-Fajr, another Algerian newspaper, quoted the head of the Watan (Nation) Party, Abdel Halim Belhajj, a former commander on the Libyan Combat Group and former chairman of the Military Council in Tripoli, as saying: “The decision to postpone is connected to gaining more time until all parties to the Libyan crisis respond to the invitation to take part in the all-inclusive meeting.” Belhajj described Algeria as “the country that was best poised to undertake a leading role in the region to solve the Libyan crisis that has swept the country, especially as it is the country that has been working to prevent military intervention and has taken a clear stance against NATO in this regard.” On the question of the Libyan parties that support or oppose the talks in Algeria, Belhajj was quoted by Al-Fajr as saying that the “Tobruk group” was reserved in its response to the Algerian initiative. The Libyan areas that border Egypt favour Egyptian initiatives, while areas that border Algeria and Tunisia support Algerian efforts, he said. According to commanders of the Libyan Dawn operation, the Algerian-brokered talks were postponed after Libyan figures asked Algerian authorities to ask Egypt to allow them to travel to Algeria, which the Algerian authorities refused to do. Last week, sources told the Weekly spoke that Libyan figures close to the Ansar Al-Sharia organisation refused to take part in the talks. Ansar Al-Sharia is part of the Shura Council of Benghazi Revolutionaries coalition, which is fighting the forces of retired General Haftar in Benghazi. The group objected to the participation of Haftar, who they said should be prosecuted for having caused the current crisis in Libya. Algeria has indicated that Haftar's participation might, indeed, be the factor that led to the delay of the talks. As part of his ongoing mediation efforts, Leon visited Zintan, where he met with municipal council members and city notables. The mountain city of Zintan leads the western Libya forces that are opposed to the alliance based around the coastal city of Misrata. During his visit to Zintan on Thursday, Leon stressed the need for Libyan factions to reach a “consensual solution” and not to revert to military hostilities that have already caused the displacement of large numbers of people. He cautioned that a return to armed conflict would aggravate that humanitarian problem. In his meeting at the municipal council building in Zintan, Leon said that the UN delegation was working to create a common ground between the conflicting parties. “Military action is not the way out of this crisis,” he said. In a related development, the Council of Libyan Notables for Reconciliation announced a national dialogue initiative that seeks to neutralise the voice of the gun, so as to “bring calm to the path out of the crisis.” The initiative calls for a ceasefire, efforts to end the political rift, and a renunciation of the use of force. In a statement carried on the Libyan Al-Naba news channel, the council said: “We call for national reconciliation, an end to division and fragmentation, the strengthening of national unity and the protection of the originally cohesive social fabric through steps and measures that avert complications and impossible to meet conditions and that, instead, focus on humanitarian relations and renders the furtherance of these a national duty incumbent on every Libyan man and woman.” Another dialogue initiative was proposed Sunday by a group of parliamentary members and revolutionaries from the south. The initiative calls for the creation of two committees, one including members of the parliament convening in Tobruk, and the other including an equal number of its opponents. The committees would meet in any city they agreed upon and would commit themselves to a number of non-negotiable national principles, most notably Libyan sovereignty, territorial integrity and the peaceful rotation of power. Misbah Doma, MP from Sebha and one of the sponsors of the initiative, said that the text of the initiative had been submitted to Leon. “We are all determined to bridge the points of view and to reach a consensus,” Doma said. “The meeting will convene within the next 10 days, God willing, after an agreement is reached over the city in which it will be held. It might possibly be one of Libya's southern cities. The first session, which will be sponsored by the UN as represented by its envoy, Bernadino Leon, will be dedicated to setting the agenda for the talks.” Doma added that the initiative was born “after consultations and discussions that we undertook in Tripoli and Tobruk with a number of parliamentary members who stressed that the solution was to come together around the negotiating table and to resolve the existing disputes in Libya, whether political or military in nature.” Also Sunday, a delegation of senior officials from Libya's neighbouring countries visited Tobruk to meet with members of parliament and parliamentary speaker Aqila Saleh. The delegation was headed by the Egyptian assistant foreign minister for neighbouring country affairs, Ambassador Mohammed Badr Al-Din Zayed. The purpose of the visit was to follow through on points agreed upon during the fourth ministerial meeting of Libya's neighbouring countries, held in Cairo on 25 August. Ambassador Badr Al-Din Zayed, in a speech to the Libyan parliament, affirmed these countries' support for Libya's legitimate institutions and their eagerness to help Libya deal with its current situation. He stressed that neighbouring nations support the efforts of the Libyan parliament in the framework of its courageous challenge to violence and terrorism and its dedication to enabling Libya to extend its authority and sovereignty over its territories. Delegation members and members of parliament discussed the latest developments in Libya and the question of coordination between Libya and its neighbours in international and regional forums. The delegation also affirmed its resolve to work tirelessly to achieve an immediate halt to all military operations, promote national reconciliation, and pressure outside parties into refraining from funding, equipping and supplying arms to illegitimate parties in Libya. It also called on Libyan parties to adopt a positive and constructive approach towards Libya's legitimate institutions and to desist from all policies and practices that could weaken these institutions and obstruct their operations. A German delegation headed by the German Foreign Ministry's special envoy to Libya, Clemens von Goetze, and the German ambassador to Libya, Christian Much, also arrived in Tobruk on Sunday evening. The delegation was to meet with the speaker of the Libyan parliament, members of the office of the speaker of the house, and other parliamentary members to discuss latest developments in Libya and to convey the views of the German government on the situation in Libya. While diplomatic efforts were under way, the Libyan parliament dismissed the Governor of the Bank of Libya, Al-Sadiq Al-Kabir, and appointed his deputy, Ali Al-Hibri, to replace him. The action is expected to trigger widespread objections, as Al-Hibri has been the focus of recent rumours concerning the alleged irregular transfers of funds.
