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Divide Widens in Libya over Parliament Meetings in Benghazi, Ghadames

Speaker Aguila Saleh. (Reuters file photo)
Speaker Aguila Saleh. (Reuters file photo)
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Divide Widens in Libya over Parliament Meetings in Benghazi, Ghadames

Speaker Aguila Saleh. (Reuters file photo)
Speaker Aguila Saleh. (Reuters file photo)

The east-based Libyan parliament renewed on Saturday its call on members to convene on Monday at the legislature’s constitutional headquarters in Benghazi.

The move is believed to be an attempt to thwart efforts to oust Speaker Aguila Saleh ahead of a parliament meeting scheduled for the city of Ghadames in the west.

The scheduling of the meeting in Ghadames had revealed divisions among the Benghazi parliament.

This is the second time in a week that the lawmakers are asked to meet in Benghazi. A meeting was convened last week, but the majority of members did not attend. They instead took part in a parliament meeting in Ghadames.

That meeting failed in resolving legal obstacles impeding the ouster of Saleh and appointing a replacement.

Separately, Government of National Accord Defense Minister Salah al-Namroush threatened to withdraw GNA representatives from the joint military committee meetings.

He said the delegates would quit the panel if the Libyan National Army (LNA), supported by mercenaries, continued to launch attacks in southern Libya.

The joint military committee includes representatives from the GNA and LNA. It had reached a UN-sponsored ceasefire in November.

“Should the ceasefire collapse, then the GNA is prepared to wage a military battle against (LNA commander Khalifa) Haftar,” warned Namroush.

“We reject any deal that includes Haftar and no political agreement that involves him will be struck. We adamantly refuse to involve Haftar in any future political deal,” stressed the minister.

“The GNA is ready to begin talks with the other side in order to reach a political solution on condition that Haftar is permanently marginalized,” he stated.

Meanwhile, UN acting special representative to Libya, Stephanie Williams, is set to take part on Monday in the meeting of the joint Economic Working Group that was formed during the Berlin conference earlier this year.

The meeting, which will be held at the UN headquarters in Geneva, will include representatives of Libya’s main financial institutions and will aim to reach an agreement on economic reforms in the North African country.

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Cyprus Can Help Rid Syria of Chemical Weapons, Search for its Missing, Says Top Diplomat

FILE PHOTO: A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus August 29, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdullah
FILE PHOTO: A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus August 29, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdullah
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Cyprus Can Help Rid Syria of Chemical Weapons, Search for its Missing, Says Top Diplomat

FILE PHOTO: A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus August 29, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdullah
FILE PHOTO: A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus August 29, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdullah

Cyprus stands ready to help eliminate Syria’s remaining chemical weapons stockpiles and to support a search for people whose fate remains unknown after more than a decade of war, the top Cypriot diplomat said Saturday.

Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos said Cyprus’ offer is grounded on its own past experience both with helping rid Syria of chemical weapons 11 years ago and its own ongoing, decades-old search for hundreds of people who disappeared amid fighting between Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriots in the 1960s and a 1974 Turkish invasion, The AP reported.

Cyprus in 2013 hosted the support base of a mission jointly run by the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to remove and dispose of Syria's chemical weapons.

“As a neighboring country located just 65 miles from Syria, Cyprus has a vested interest in Syria’s future. Developments there will directly impact Cyprus, particularly in terms of potential new migratory flows and the risks of terrorism and extremism,” Kombos told The AP in written replies to questions.

Kombos said there are “profound concerns” among his counterparts across the region over Syria’s future security, especially regarding a possible resurgence of extremist groups like ISIS in a fragmented and polarized society.

“This is particularly critical in light of potential social and demographic engineering disguised as “security” arrangements, which could further destabilize the country,” Kombos said.

The diplomat also pointed to the recent proliferation of narcotics production like the stimulant Captagon that is interconnected with smuggling networks involved in people and arms trafficking.

Kombos said ongoing attacks against Syria’s Kurds must stop immediately, given the role that Kurdish forces have played in combating extremist forces like the ISIS group in the past decade.

Saleh Muslim, a member of the Kurdish Presidential Council, said in an interview that the Kurds primarily seek “equality” enshrined in rights accorded to all in any democracy.

He said a future form of governance could accord autonomy to the Kurds under some kind of federal structure.

“But the important thing is to have democratic rights for all the Syrians and including the Kurdish people,” he said.

Muslim warned that the Kurdish-majority city of Kobani, near Syria’s border with Türkiye, is in “very big danger” of falling into the hands of Turkish-backed forces, and accused Türkiye of trying to occupy it.

Kombos said the international community needs to ensure that the influence Türkiye is trying to exert in Syria is “not going to create an even worse situation than there already is.”

“Whatever the future landscape in Syria, it will have a direct and far-reaching impact on the region, the European Union and the broader international community,” Kombos said.