Libya peace talks may be doomed by meddling powers -U.S.
Mon Dec 8, 2014 5:52pm GMT
By David Rohde
WASHINGTON Dec 8 (Reuters) - The United States has little faith in
U.N.-backed peace talks in Libya because Middle Eastern countries are
defying requests to end their war by proxy in the oil-rich North African
nation, senior U.S. officials said.
U.N. special Libya envoy Bernardino Leon last week called on the main
factions to meet this Tuesday to initiate a dialog in a spirit of
"objectivity and conciliation," but a time and place have still not been
made public.
Despite months of American requests, the U.S. officials said Egypt, the
United Arab Emirates and Qatar, all of which are U.S. allies, continue to
encourage local factions to fight instead of compromise.
"What is the objective? What is the plan for success here?" asked a senior
American official who declined to be identified. "It seems quite clear that
the more foreign countries get involved in Libya, the more unstable the
situation becomes."
Egypt and the United Arab Emirates back the internationally recognized
government led by Abdullah al-Thinni operating in the east. U.S. officials
say Qatar has supported Libya Dawn, which controls the capital Tripoli, but
Qatar denies this.
Last week Thinni's government said in a statement its forces had started a
military offensive to take back Tripoli. His government has allied itself
with former army general Khalifa Haftar who declared war on Islamists in
May.
U.S. analysts say in recent weeks Egypt's military-led government, in
particular, had undermined diplomatic efforts by its support for Haftar, and
said this had emboldened Thinni, who launched a series of air strikes.
Claudia Gazzini, senior Libya analyst for the International Crisis Group, an
independent conflict-prevention organization, said the eastern forces seemed
suddenly to believe they could take the whole country. "I don't think this
mentality would have been possible without the overt and covert support of
Egypt," she said.
The senior American officials emphasized that deep tribal and political
divisions were the core source of the conflict, which broke out after the
NATO-backed uprising in 2011 ended 42 years of dictatorial rule by Muammar
Gaddafi.
CHAOS BENEFITS THE EXTREMISTS
Egypt and the United Arab Emirates have made Libya part of their regional
campaign to crush the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists, declaring them
terrorists. Qatar is supporting the Brotherhood and other Islamists they say
are moderates.
In a pattern reminiscent of Syria, the resulting chaos is benefiting Libyan
extremist groups, some of whom have declared themselves Islamic State
allies.
"What we're still not seeing is a way to put the pieces together," said a
second senior U.S. administration official,
Washington says it has spent months trying to ease rivalries inside and
outside Libya. In September, Secretary of State John Kerry met with Egyptian
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo and urged him to let Libyans decide
their own fate.
In November, American officials threatened to impose sanctions on Libyan
factions who continued fighting, and urged regional powers to back dialogue,
not military action.
But two weeks later, Sisi called on the United States to help Libya's
elected prime minister crush Libya's Islamists.
Ben Fishman, a Libya expert at the International Institute for Strategic
Studies, said Washington's attention was clearly focused on its campaign
against Islamic State fighters, sometimes known by the acronym ISIL, in Iraq
and Syria.
"As long as the central focus of U.S. policy in the region remains on ISIL
and Iran, as it should, it will be extremely difficult to fashion a new
coalition to attempt to right the course in Libya," Fishman said.
(Additional reporting by Mark Hosenball and Warren Strobel; Editing by David
Storey and James Dalgleish)