As new security arrangements were put into place in Tripoli this week in order to curb the threat by militia groups to sovereign institutions in the capital, the Presidency Council of Libya's Government of National Accord (GNA) endorsed a package of economic reform measures designed to remedy flaws in the country's economic and financial systems. These developments coincided with the release of a UN Security Council report on Libya covering the period from August 2017 to August 2018 and documenting grave human rights violations perpetrated by all parties. On 12 September, the Presidency Council approved an economic reform programme and its executive measures in a meeting headed by Presidency Council Chairman Fayez Al-Sarraj and attended by the head of the Supreme Council for State Khaled Al-Mishri, governor of the Libyan Central Bank Al-Sadik Al-Kabir and Vice-Chairman of the Presidency Council Ahmed Maiteeq. The reforms seek to bolster the Libyan dinar by levying a sales taxes on purchases of foreign currency for commercial and personal purposes. Others include reductions in fuel subsidies and an increase in the foreign currency allocation to families from $500 to a $1,000 per person. Stephanie Williams, deputy head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), has devoted particular attention to the Libyan economic reform programme since taking up her post as chargé d'affaires of the US Embassy in Libya. The reform package announced last week marks success in her efforts to persuade the GNA and the Central Bank to endorse it in spite of the ongoing political deadlock and legal controversy the reforms might precipitate. A major goal of the economic reform programme is to remedy the severe fiscal fluidity shortage that has gripped the country for three years, and to generate the funds necessary to stimulate the national financial system, resume suspended development projects and reduce the huge national deficit. Also, according to Central Bank officials, more than LD 20 billion has been circulating outside the official banking system for the past two years. Against the backdrop of the nearly four-year-old political crisis and institutional bifurcation in Libya, rival factions have used financial instruments as a weapon against their political and militia rivals. This severe fluidity crisis generated aggravated deteriorating living standards and fed a flourishing black market for major foreign currencies. In recent months, the US dollar passed the LD10 threshold. The Presidency Council, last week, also approved a package of new security arrangements intended to consolidate the ceasefire agreement between the militia groups that had been fighting in the southern suburbs of the capital for several weeks. UNSMIL has begun to oversee the implementation of the new measures which include the creation of a joint security force, headed by Brigadier General Osama Al-Juwaili, to secure the disengagement between the warring militias. The government also formed a Security Arrangements Committee for Greater Tripoli, headed by commander of the Military Police General Hamad Ahmed Abboud, to implement the measures to consolidate the ceasefire and maintain stability, and to devise a plan to replace the militia groups that had been guarding public establishments and facilities with official army, police and security forces. In addition, the Interior Ministry formed a standing police force to secure Mitiga Airport, which is located southeast of the capital. As part of its support for the new security arrangements, the UNSMIL team, headed by Ghassan Salame, engaged security experts to meet with officials in the ministries of interior, communications and justice to discuss the next steps that need to be taken to reinforce the ceasefire and improve security conditions in the capital. Last week, Al-Sarraj announced that, in the framework of the security arrangements being carried out jointly by security and military agencies with UNSMIL support, the Tripoli Military Academy will open its doors, in October, to its first class of militia fighters who want training preparatory to becoming legally and professionally employed in the military and security establishments. He added that the training programme will be piloted in Tripoli and then extended to other Libyan cities. Speaking in a meeting with municipal chiefs in western Libya, Al-Sarraj noted that militia groups were a phenomenon that existed in all Libyan cities and that the measures being carried out by the Presidency Council in this regard were part of “interim plans” for security arrangements that had been delayed due to the breakdown in the political process. Cautioning that new names would be added to the list of Libyans subject to international sanctions for obstructing efforts to resolve Libya's political and security crises, he reiterated his warning against all attempts to enter the capital by force of arms, stressing that any such attempts will be met with force. Al-Sarraj charged that certain parties, which he left unnamed, were backing the militias involved in the current crisis in the capital with the purpose of creating incendiary conditions conducive to the realisation of those parties' political ends. “Some parties are determined to perpetuate the crisis, to keep the ceasefire from holding, to engineer a breach in the truce and to embroil other parties. It is though they are deliberately bent on aggravating the crisis at the political, security and humanitarian levels… This is not about a battle between militias. It is bigger than that. There are other parties that fuel flames and use parties on the ground to achieve their political interests… They have tried to topple the GNA using every possible means through the media, security situation and fabricated problems. In the end, they found that they could only enter the capital with warfare which is something we will never permit.” Al-Sarraj informed municipal leaders that, in a few days, he would reshuffle the GNA cabinet and appoint new ministers to the military and security portfolios. Observers also expect the forthcoming government reshuffle to include new directors of General Intelligence, the Office of the Chief of Staffs and the Presidential Guard. The reshuffle was supposed to have taken place some time ago, but had to be deferred due to disputes. Meanwhile, in the east of the country, the House of Representatives passed the Constitutional Referendum Law in an emergency session held last Thursday and that was attended by representatives from western and southern Libya. However, the law has not yet been submitted to the Supreme Electoral Commission on the grounds that the draft constitution needs to be amended. MPs from the east are opposed to the constitutional bill as it currently stands, arguing that it contains provisions that violate the Constitutional Declaration and that, accordingly, a tenth constitutional amendment is required. Since a constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds majority of the House of Representatives, it would not pass easily. The passage of the referendum law came as a slap in the face to political leaders in Cyrenaica and the army command in the east who are vehemently opposed to the constitutional bill. Eastern spokesmen insisted that the speaker of the House of Representatives should “launch an investigation into all who contributed to opening the official assembly hall on a public holiday and the deliberate perpetration of legal and constitutional violations”. They also maintained that the House of Representatives' Legislative Committee should specify the quorum for passing the referendum law and, before that, determine the legal status of the draft constitution and whether it can even be put to a referendum. On 5 September, the team of experts charged with drafting a report on Libya from August 2017 to August 2018 submitted their findings to the UN Security Council. The report highlights the many financial, political and security-related breaches and violations that had been documented during that year. The 262-page report, a copy of which has been made available to Al-Ahram Weekly, levels serious allegations against diverse parties and asks the Security Council to adopt harsher measures in order to curtail the ability of militia groups to threaten government institutions. It also urges tougher steps to prevent the flow of arms and munitions to the disputants in the Libya crisis.
