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Libyan Rival Officials Discuss Unifying 2021 Budget

A fisherman along a promenade in Tripoli, Libya, November 25, 2020. (AFP)
A fisherman along a promenade in Tripoli, Libya, November 25, 2020. (AFP)
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Libyan Rival Officials Discuss Unifying 2021 Budget

A fisherman along a promenade in Tripoli, Libya, November 25, 2020. (AFP)
A fisherman along a promenade in Tripoli, Libya, November 25, 2020. (AFP)

Officials from Libya’s rival governments met Tuesday in the strategic eastern oil town of Brega for talks aimed at unifying the national budget, officials said, another step forward in efforts to end the yearslong conflict in the oil-rich country.

Finance minister of the Government of National Accord (GNA) based in the capital Tripoli, Faraj Bumatari, and his counterpart from the eastern Libya-based administration, Muraja Ghaith, attended the meeting.

Also attending was Tripoli-based Foreign Minister Mohammed Tahir Siyala.

A statement by the Tripoli-based Finance Ministry said the sides would work on a final draft for the 2021 national budget in the coming days. The draft would be presented to a transitional government that will be established to lead the country to presidential and parliamentary elections late this year.

Siyala said in video comments posted by the ministry’s official account that a joint team would carry out the agreed-on budget arrangements according to estimated resources this year. He did not elaborate.

The UN support mission in Libya, or UNSMIL, called the meeting an “encouraging and much-needed step” and urged both sides to prepare the budget in “a transparent manner.”

“The unification and rationalization of the national budget is crucial to establishing a more durable and equitable economic arrangement,” it said.

Tuesday’s meeting came a month after Libya’s Central Bank approved a single official exchange rate for its currency at 4.8 dinars per US dollar.

The advisory committee of the Libyan political dialogue forum, meanwhile, was to meet Wednesday in Geneva to provide recommendations for resolving disputes over a mechanism to choose the transitional government, the UN mission said.

The forum reached an agreement late last year to hold presidential and parliamentary elections on Dec. 24, 2021. However, it failed to break the deadlock on the selection mechanism for the executive authority despite numerous online meetings since their face-to-face talks in Tunisia in November.

The mission called for “genuine efforts” in the political track of the UN-brokered talks to form a unified government.

The forum is part of the UN efforts to end the chaos that has engulfed the oil-rich North African nation since the 2011 overthrow and killing of ruler Moammar al-Gaddafi.

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Arab World

Lebanese Army Conducts 500 Missions to Dismantle Hezbollah Infrastructure South of Litani River

A Lebanese Army vehicle near a destroyed position in the town of Naqoura in South Lebanon (AFP)
A Lebanese Army vehicle near a destroyed position in the town of Naqoura in South Lebanon (AFP)
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Lebanese Army Conducts 500 Missions to Dismantle Hezbollah Infrastructure South of Litani River

A Lebanese Army vehicle near a destroyed position in the town of Naqoura in South Lebanon (AFP)
A Lebanese Army vehicle near a destroyed position in the town of Naqoura in South Lebanon (AFP)

The Lebanese army has intensified its efforts to stop Israel from finding excuses for the ceasefire agreement in South Lebanon to endure. Since the ceasefire was declared on November 27, the army has carried out approximately 500 missions to inspect potential Hezbollah sites, dismantle infrastructure, and confiscate weapons.

Under the ceasefire deal, Hezbollah and Israel are both supposed to withdraw from southern Lebanon by Sunday to allow the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers to provide security.

According to sources monitoring the implementation of the agreement, Hezbollah is “fully cooperating with the decisions of the Lebanese authorities.”

Israel has warned residents of over 62 towns south of the Litani River against returning to their villages. While Israel has not established any permanent military posts on Lebanese soil, it has conducted incursions and demolitions in 38 villages and towns. Israeli forces have fully withdrawn from nine of these areas, with the Lebanese army swiftly deploying in them and preparing to assume control in others.

Israeli media leaks suggest that Israel might retain control of three border points: Hamames Hill in Khiam, facing the Metula settlement; a site in Harsh Al-Labouneh in the western sector near Naqoura and Alma Al-Shaab, facing settlements in western Galilee; and Jabal Balat in the central sector near Ramiyeh, opposite the Zar’it and Shtula settlements. These claims are allegedly based on the assertion that the Lebanese army and UNIFIL have not yet completed their assignments.

However, security sources affirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that the army has fulfilled its responsibilities, dismantling most of Hezbollah’s military infrastructure south of the Litani River. The sources stressed that the army has promptly addressed every potential site or facility reported by the ceasefire monitoring committee.

Hezbollah has reportedly not objected to any army or UNIFIL operations involving inspections, confiscation of weapons, or clearing of storage depots. Security officials revealed that the army seizes all weapons and ammunition found south of the Litani River without consulting any other parties, in accordance with political directives to enforce UN Resolution 1701. The confiscated weapons and ammunition are disposed of daily by engineering teams at three designated demolition sites.

In collaboration with and under the supervision of UNIFIL, the Lebanese army has carried out 500 missions to inspect and dismantle potential Hezbollah sites, including 100 weapons depots confirmed by the UN Secretary-General during his recent visit to southern Lebanon.

The army has also deployed in areas that Israeli troops have withdrawn from, fully complying with monitoring committee instructions despite provocations by Israeli forces. These provocations include Israeli drones dropping sound bombs near army personnel, repeated incursions into Lebanese territory, and detonations near UNIFIL units. One such incident recently injured seven members of the Finnish battalion.

The Lebanese army has documented more than 1,500 Israeli violations since the ceasefire, including land, sea, and air breaches, demolitions of buildings, and destruction of roads.