Libya’s two main rival leaders, Fayez Al-Sarraj and Khalifa Haftar, agreed to call a ceasefire and hold elections next spring after a UN-sponsored meeting in Paris hosted by President Emmanuel Macron. Myriam Benraad, an Arabian-affairs expert at Limerik University, told Sputnik that the elections would hardly bring peace to the war-torn country.
According to media reports, Fayez Al-Sarraj, the prime minister of the UN-backed government of National Accord in Tripoli, and Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, the commander of the eastern Libya National Army, also promised to ensure a unified government and elections to put an end to the crisis and bring stability to the country.
“This will not change the domestic political configuration because the political process in Libya is devoid of any logic, the country is literally exploding, many regions are plunged in chaos and military logic is prevailing,” Myriam Benraad said.
She added that while Emmanuel Macron is trying to reconsider French foreign policy, this latest initiative [in Libya] is the brainchild of Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, rather than his own. Moreover, it was put forward without any prior consultations with France’s European partners, including Italy.
“Macron is trying to right the wrong France did to Libya under President Nicolas Sarkozy and make sure that Libya does not become another Syria where Russia and the United States are negotiating the country’s future. I see this as [Marcon’s] attempt to assert himself, but I don’t think this could change the situation in Libya,” Benraad noted.
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