Ankara invited the two rival prime ministers of Libya to Türkiye to hold talks on the same dates, in what might have been an attempt to bring the two sides together as the country is once again the scene of renewed conflict.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Friday received Libya's Prime Minister of National Unity Government Abdul Hamid Mohammed Dbeibah in Istanbul for talks.
Erdoğan received Dbeibah at the Vahdettin Mansion in a closed-door meeting.
Coincidingly, it was reported that rival Prime Minister Fathi Bashagha, the former interior minister who has been appointed by the eastern-based parliament to head a new government, was also invited to Türkiye for talks.
While Dbeibah’s visit was publicly declared and bilateral photos were shared, the visit of Bashagha remained unpublicized.
Diplomatic officials declined Daily Sabah's request for comments or confirmation of Bashagha’s visit.
However, on Saturday, the U.S. Embassy in Libya quoted its ambassador as saying, “In a Sept. 3 call with Fathi Bashagha following his important meetings in Türkiye, we discussed the importance of de-escalating the military confrontation in and around Tripoli,” confirming the visit.
The visits by the two prime ministers come amid Libyan armed faction fighting in the western outskirts of Tripoli in recent days.
The clashes, along with a major pro-Dbeibah group taking over a military headquarters in southern Tripoli, come a week after Libya's biggest bout of warfare in two years, as several rival factions battled in and around the capital.
The standoff between the two men has lasted for months, with Libya's powerful eastern faction lined up behind Bashagha, while the numerous factions controlling Tripoli and the rest of the northwest remained divided.
Following the unrest, the Turkish Foreign Ministry released a statement calling for "an immediate cessation of the clashes" in Libya and said, "The escalation of violence also jeopardizes the Libyan people's determination to achieve lasting peace and stability and their vision of advancing the political process, especially the holding of elections."
It reiterated Ankara's support for establishing lasting peace and stability in Libya and said Türkiye expects "the parties to silence their weapons and focus on solving their problems peacefully as soon as possible."
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced the appointment Friday of former Senegalese Minister and U.N. diplomat Abdoulaye Bathily to be the new U.N. envoy to Libya after the Security Council gave its approval, ending a nine-month search amid increasing chaos in the oil-rich north African nation.
Libya’s transitional government, which opposed Bathily’s nomination, reportedly sent a protest letter to Guterres, which raises questions about how effective the new envoy can be in trying to resolve the country’s political and economic crisis.
The last U.N. special representative, Jan Kubis, resigned on Nov. 23, 2021, after 10 months on the job, and a number of candidates proposed by Guterres were rejected by council members, Libya or neighboring countries.
In December, Guterres appointed veteran American diplomat Stephanie Williams, a former U.N. deputy special representative in Libya, as his special adviser – a job that did not require council approval.
She resigned at the end of July. So, the mission has had no leader as Libyans grapple with a constitutional and political crisis.
Libya has been in chaos since a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. The county has for years been split between rival administrations.
U.N. political chief Rosemary DiCarlo warned last week that failure to resolve Libya’s political crisis and hold delayed elections poses a growing threat in the country, pointing to recent violent clashes that killed at least 42 people and injured 159 others, according to Libyan authorities.
The current stalemate grew out of the failure to hold elections in December and the refusal of Dbeibah, who led the transitional government, to step down. In response, the country’s east-based parliament appointed a rival prime minister, Bashagha, who has for months sought to install his government in Tripoli.
Guterres said Bathily brings 40 years of experience to the job of special representative and head of Libya’s U.N. political mission.
He held various ministerial positions in Senegal, taught history for more than 30 years at the Universite Cheikh Anta Diop in the country, held senior U.N. positions including in Mali and Central Africa, and served as the independent expert for the strategic review of the Libya mission in 2021.
