A well-informed source announced the launch of consultative meetings between 100 Libyan parliamentarians in Tangier, in a new step by Morocco to overcome the legitimacy gap between the two sides in the conflict.
The same source said that the consultative meetings between Libyan parliamentarians are expected to last four days. The meetings will present a number of recommendations that would push Libyan reconciliation to take further steps. This was in light of the meetings between Libyan leaders in Morocco, which have been described as “successful”.
The meeting of Libyan parliamentarians in Tangier came at the initiative of Habib Al-Maliki who is the Speaker of Parliament. This was to open a new page between the Libyan House of Representatives, which is loyal to Haftar and holds its sessions in Tobruk and considers itself legitimate, and the parliament loyal to the government of Sarraj, which holds its sessions in the capital, Tripoli. Both suffer from internal divisions and a number of members of parliament boycott the sessions, as explained by the same source.
Similarly, the same source said that Libyan parliamentarians’ response to the Moroccan call was met with confidence on both sides, and it is considered the first direct meetings between parliamentarians. It also noted that many Arab capitals have held meetings with the aim of unifying the House of Representatives, including in Cairo 2019, but without producing any results.
The same source explained that the consultative meeting in Tangier will have a local and international impact, stressing that consultative meetings in Morocco are always successful. It cited Al-Maliki’s message to Libyan parliamentarians and considered this invitation “as part of the efforts of the Kingdom of Morocco to bring visions between Libyan brothers. And to enable the House of Representatives to carry out the tasks entrusted to it, in order to overcome the difficulties that hinder the political process in Libya.
The two parties involved in the conflict in Libya reached last September, at the end of the parliamentary talks held in Bouznika, “a comprehensive agreement on transparent and objective criteria and mechanisms for assuming sovereign positions with the aim of unifying them”, according to the final statement of the meeting.
The Moroccan initiative is aimed at overcoming the political gap between Libyan parliamentarians, especially since Tripoli deputies earlier expressed that the Council of State had ignored them during political discussions with parties from eastern Libya. The last one was in Bouznika, where the House of Representatives sent a message to the President and members of the Supreme Council of State. In the same vein, the House of Representatives’ convocation in Tripoli since May 2019 “came as a refusal to respond to the aggression against the capital,” and in application of Article 16 of the political agreement.
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