Libya Crisis: Algeria Sticks To Its Initiative, Aguila Salah Removes Haftar

Chairman of the Libyan Parliament, Aguila Salah Issa, returned to his country without obtaining a promise from President Abdelmadjid Tabboune to support the Egyptian initiative, which was announced by President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi about a week ago, and which was adopted by the internationally recognized Benghazi litigant party of the government in Tripoli, which is led by Fayez el-Sarraj.

Aguila Salah said, while he was about to leave Algeria, that he had obtained a commitment from President Tabboune to support the political solution in the eastern neighbour, and that he would “remain at the disposal of the Libyans”, while the Algerian guest tried to soften the Egyptian initiative, by affirming that it is a reconciliation project presented by the party that takes Benghazi as its headquarters.

Algeria had expressed its rejection of the Egyptian initiative, as it stands alongside one party at another’s expense, in a statement circulated by the Foreign Ministry, and spoke about Algeria’s adherence to its initiative to bring the parties of the crisis to the dialogue table in Algeria and to stay at the same distance from all the conflicting parties.

It is known that the initiative announced by al-Sissi was serving one party, which is the institutions that are not recognized internationally, such as the Libyan army led by the retired general Khalifa Haftar, who has been hidden from view due to the military defeats he suffered in the Libyan West, and the institution of the parliament that ended his term, headed by Aguila Salah and that is not supported by the majority of MPs, as they refuse to meet outside the capital, Tripoli.

Algeria, through the statement of the Presidency of the Republic, after President Taboune received Aguila Salah, confirms that he is adhering to the initiative that takes into account the outputs of the Berlin conference, which was attended by the President of the Republic, at the invitation of the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, which is further evidence of Algeria’s reservation to the Egyptian initiative which did not observe the Berlin floor, as it was aligned with the Libyan East party at the expense of the other side, which is based in the capital, Tripoli, as the headquarters of internationally recognized institutions.

On the other hand, Algeria’s reception of Aguila Salah in favour of the initiative indicates the end of the influence of Khalifa Haftar in the Libyan East, after he was the focus of everything, a development that was unleashed by fierce military operations taking place a month and a half ago, and led, as is known, to eliminating the influence of Haftar in the whole Eastern neighbour.

It is known that Algeria and Haftar do not have much affection for each other, and the reason is the unsuccessful media statements, and the ill-conceived position of the arrogant general, who was set alone by Algeria earlier when he refused to get off the plane that took him to the Houari Boumediene airport, wearing the military uniform, and he did not leave the plane until after he replaced it with a civilian suit, and on that day he understood this position and that Algeria does not recognize Haftar’s leadership of an institution in Libya called the Libyan Army.