It is internal actors that mainly hinder the political process in Libya from moving forward, former United Nations Special Envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame said.
“During my time there, we had three points on our agenda. The first one – which is, I think, the most important – is to allow for oil to be produced because the country lives out of oil and because people will not survive without oil,” Salame told Daily Sabah in an exclusive interview.
He elaborated that the second thing was to have a cease-fire because, at that time, Tripoli was attacked by Misrata in 2018, and it was much more difficult to produce a cease-fire when Tripoli was attacked by Khalifa Haftar in 2019.
“The third point was to try to keep the various institutions of the Libyan state united as much as possible. We made a great step forward at the beginning of 2020 when we organized the Berlin summit in Libya.”
Salame highlighted his gratitude for President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to have attended and contributed to the conference.
“This summit produced immediate results on the first point, which is oil production. It is produced more regularly although still interrupted from time to time,” Salame said, indicating that Libya normally produces between 1-1.2 million barrels per day (bpd). “The 7 million Libyans badly need that production to survive; they do not export anything else.”
He reminded that the Berlin conference produced the 5+5 security commission on the security front, which resulted in a cease-fire and the exchange of prisoners.
Salame also welcomed that the committee is still working and met recently in Türkiye to discuss additional steps that can be taken for the peace, stability and security of the North African country.
“The security situation is much better than it used to be.”
The most difficult part is to ensure the third point, the envoy underlined. “Every time we come close to reunifying institutions, there is a coalition of forces that comes and stops the mediator from moving in this direction – whether it is the reunification of the two governments, elections, or keeping the judiciary united. Every time, the ones who feel that unity means a loss for them hinder the process.”
When it comes to Libya, people overestimate the role of external forces. It is mainly a force within Libya. "They put their veto toward any unification movement because they are afraid they will lose their advantages if there is unification,” he continued.
“External forces basically defend their interests – which is logical. But I think they should come to the conclusion that their interests are better protected under a unified Libya. What external powers fear is that Libya comes under one leadership and that leadership is not friendly to them,” he said, adding that, therefore, these countries do not contribute to progress. “I think this is too shortsighted.”
Salame said that achieving economic stability through oil production and relative security is more vital at the moment than the more complicated political chapter.
The vast, oil-rich country of 7 million people has struggled to recover from years of conflict after the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that put an end to four decades of rule under Moammar Gadhafi.
Libya remains divided between a U.N.-recognised government based in the capital, Tripoli, and a rival administration in the east, backed by military strongman Haftar.
However, Salame concluded: “I do not think that Libya is divided into east and west. I lived there for three years and concluded that the country is more imploded into many pieces than divided into two.”
