Hopes that a United Nations-brokered peace deal would finally bring stability to Libya appear to have been dashed.
This follows the declaration on Monday by Libyan-American leader of the ‘Libyan National Army’ (LNA) Khalifa Haftar that he had a popular mandate to govern the country and that the UN deal, known as the ‘Skhirat Agreement’, was over.
The LNA is one of the two primary groups in the latest phase of the Libyan civil war.
In a televised address to the country, Haftar said that he was ‘proud to be mandated with the historic task’ of leading Libya. He went on to say that his forces would begin ‘to put in place the necessary conditions to build the permanent institutions of a civil state’.
These claims were rejected by the UN-recognised ’Government of National Accord’ (GNA), which still holds control of the capital city of Tripoli in the west of the country. An advisor to the GNA said: ‘He [Haftar] no longer seeks to conceal his contempt for a political solution and democracy in Libya. His statement tonight is the final, desperate act of a defeated man.’
Haftar’s forces came close to capturing Tripoli in an offensive last year until a Turkish military intervention helped to force a stalemate. Russia and Turkey attempted to negotiate a ceasefire, but this failed to prevent fighting.
Fighting continues in the country.