Ghadames hosts first meeting between Aguila Saleh and Khalid al-Mishri
A Libyan source was quoted by Sputnik Monday as saying that, according to an informed source, the Speaker of the Libyan House of Representatives, Aguila Saleh, and the President of the High Council of State in Libya, Khalid al-Mishri, will hold a meeting next Thursday in the city of Ghadames in western Libya. This is the first meeting between the two men amid disputes over the constitutional base, electoral law, sovereign positions, and in light of an increasingly complicated dispute over legitimacy between the Government of National Unity led by Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh (Tripoli) and a government led by former Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha (based in Sirte), who received the confidence of the Parliament last March.
Saleh said in earlier statements in Cairo that the High Council of State is not a second chamber of parliament but rather an advisory entity, explaining that the conduct of general elections requires a package of measures.
He also expressed his hope to reach an agreement as soon as possible with the State Council on the issue of sovereign institutions, adding that “I hope that the tasks of the Libyan Constitutional Committee will be completed soon”.
The Speaker of the Libyan Parliament accused unnamed foreign entities of interfering in the Libyan affairs and that this matter contributed to hindering the efforts of the Arab League to resolve the Libyan crisis.
He also said that the aim of the ongoing consultations is to ensure that the elections are held as soon as possible, calling on the UN Support Envoy in Libya to move in this direction, noting that this is a priority in talks with the Secretary-General.
Aguila Saleh has categorically denied being a party holding up the elections or being a party to them, while Khalid al-Mishri recently accused the government of obstructing a session of the Supreme Council of State.
The Speaker of the Libyan House of Representatives considers the Dbeibeh government to be illegitimate and its mission ended with its failure to complete the elections in December 2021.
The anticipated meeting between Saleh’s wife and Khalid al-Mishri comes less than a week after Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh expressed his willingness to communicate with everyone without exception and to overcome all differences and respond to any initiative that boosts confidence in securing the elections.
This came in response to a statement made by the speaker of the Libyan House of Representatives, in which he said that an agreement will be reached with the High Council of State “in the next few days” to change the occupants of sovereign positions with the aim of ending the political deadlock.
“The political dialog and our agreement should only be focused on enhancing confidence in securing the electoral process”, Dbeibeh said. “We have no way but elections, and any subsequent dialog will only be about shouldering the responsibilities for the success of the electoral process.”
“What hampered the electoral process last December 24th was the flawed election law, and what is now blocking it is the same as the election law, which is the direct responsibility of the House of Representatives,” he said.
He was referring to the council, which has been led by Aguila Saleh since 2014. Saleh accused him of obstructing a political settlement and holding elections, in line with earlier statements by Khalid al-Mishri, in which he accused Dbeibeh of obstructing elections in order to stay in power for as long as possible.
Last year’s December 24 elections could not be held under a UN-sponsored plan due to disagreements between Libya’s official institutions over the election law and the role of the judiciary in the electoral process.
“The current objects cannot represent the will of the Libyan people, and unfortunately all that these objects are seeking is to extend themselves by inventing parallel paths that are rejected by the Libyan people,” Dbeibeh said.
