Khalifa Hafter: “Algeria Is A Neutral Mediator In Libya Crisis”

Algeria is qualified to play a real role in the mediation between the political process in Libya, Marshal, Khalifa Hafter, commander of Libya’s national army, said.

In an interview with the weekly magazine, Jeune Afrique, Marshal Khalifa Hafter said on Monday: “Perhaps it is preparing to launch an initiative, but at the moment we do not recognize it”, referring to Algeria.

Hafter denied whether Algeria would be closer to Fayez Al Sarraj or no, explaining that Algeria was a brother country: “I am sure that if the Algerians try to mediate, they will do so in a neutral way”, he said.

“Algeria is an Arab country, and the Union of Libyans is very important to it, because its divisions are damaging it, and it may be the neutral mediator who can play a convincing role in the process of uniting Libya”.

“I have reservations about the plan of Ghassan Salama, the UN representative in Libya. His plan first provides for the amendment of the contested articles of the Skhirat agreement, which are out of date”.

“The plan of Ghassan may take a year or two and then amend the Constitution, which can not be in less than three years and then the Libyan elections, which are scheduled in mid-2018, can be orgnized”.

“It is necessary to organize elections before the elected officials can agree on a constitution. Elections must be held as soon as possible with the greatest transparency, and voting must be mandatory”.

“We are giving priority to the political process, so we saw that resolving the crisis in the ballot box to stop the bloodshed, but our patience has its limits. If it proves to be a dead end, we have in 10% of the land that evades sleeping cells that will be easy to act as a disaster that surrounds us and could lead to serious consequences”.

“The head of the presidential council, Fayez al-Sarraj, is a hostage of the militias in the capital Tripoli and he has no hands to impose his control over the capital”, General Commander of the National Army, Marshal Khalifa Hafter, added.

“During the meetings with Al-Sarraj, I urged him to be firm with the ambiguous situation in Tripoli, as Al-Seraj always promised us of firmness and changing the situation, but he did not do anything on the ground”.

He spoke of the subject of Saif al-Islam al-Qadhafi, saying that he is politically poor, and it is naive to bet on him politically in the next stage, adding that betting on him will be a loss, because he does not have a basis that will qualify him to play a role in the next stage.