Morocco hosts inter-Libyan meeting

Morocco is  hosting this Sunday and Monday an inter-Libyan meeting with the aim of consolidating the ceasefire and relaunching the political process, local media report.

Libyans on both sides remain very discreet about the agenda of these meetings, but according to media reports two dialogue committees, each composed of 7 people, have been formed to try to bridge the differences between the two parties.

According to Turkish News Agency Anadolu, the two committees are already having meetings in Morocco.

Representatives of the two main Libyan factions, namely the Tobruk Parliament and the High Council of State in Tripoli, which have lately decreed a ceasefire, are expected to discuss in Bouznika, a seaside resort to the south of Rabat, the modalities of the operationalization of the political process and discuss the mechanisms for the appointment of a new leadership and the setting up of sovereignty institutions, namely the formation of a Government of National Union and the composition of the new High Council of State as well as the sharing of oil revenues.

It should be recalled that the President of the Libyan House of Representatives Aguila Saleh and the President of the Libyan High Council of State, Khaled Al Mechri had both visited Rabat at the end of July and held separate talks with Moroccan officials.

Also, this September meeting was preceded by talks in Rabat, on August 27, 2020, between the Moroccan Foreign Minister and the acting head of the UN mission in Libya, the American Stéphanie Williams.

Stéphanie Williamshad then thanked King Mohammed VI for his unwavering and continued support for the United Nations efforts in Libya.

On September 1, during the signing of a diplomatic agreement between Morocco and the United States, Mike Pompeo welcomed the Moroccan position regarding the Libyan crisis.

Although it is no easy task to bring together the fractured sides in the conflict and realize peace in Libya, Morocco’ neutrality and active diplomacy in the Libyan civil war make it an obvious candidate to mediate a new sustainable peace agreement, in the same vein as the key role it played in 2015 and that resulted in the Skhirat Agreement, become a foundation for dialogue in the chaotic Libyan conflict.

If the Sunday inter-Libyan meetings yield positive results, further negotiations in Geneva could follow.