Anti 5 Sept 16

Sep 5, 2016 | Libyan actors

The GNA’s Presidential Council (PC) failed to meet with all its members to agree a new cabinet line-up before the ten day limit set by the House of Representatives (HoR) to form a new government expired.  Nevertheless, two of the three boycotting PC members have rejoined the body and they reportedly hope to issue a new list of GNA ministers by Eid. Only Ali Al-Gutrani, who represents General Khalifa Haftar, Gutrani still refuses to re-join the PC.

The HoR is also facing further fragmentation. After achieving a legal quorum on 22 August to give a no-confidence vote to the GNA, new rifts are emerging. Some HoR members are now boycotting sessions and refusing to return until current president Ageelah Saleh is removed, or the HoR is moved elsewhere. The split in the HoR is steadily becoming more regional, rather than purely political (anti-vs-pro GNA), with the LNA’s steady expansion of Martial Law arrangements over large swaths of eastern Libya becoming increasingly popular there.

On 2 September two LNA soldiers were kidnapped from a checkpoint just east of Ajdabiya, and one body was found on 3 September. This incident is likely to refuel further tension in the oil crescent between the LNA and Petroleum Facilities Guard (PFG) units loyal to Ibrahim Jadhran, especially given the martial law structures being established by the HoR and LNA in eastern Libya, in an area extending from Bin Jaawad in the oil crescent, to Derna in the east (excluding Tubruq).