Libya, Berlin Conference: "A late catwalk"

THE RESULT OF THE BERLIN CONFERENCE

The delegations of Fayez al Serraj and that of General Haftar refused to meet during all phases of the Berlin Conference. 

the prime minister of Tripoli Fayez al Serraj he also said to the agency Dpa that "If General Khalifa Haftar's attack resumes, we will continue to defend ourselves vigorously until it is defeated. We have not attacked anyone".

(by Massimiliano D'Elia) The chancellor Angela Merkel on the sidelines of the Berlin conference on the Libya dossier, he expressed a cautious optimism: “We have developed a very broad plan, everyone has collaborated in a very constructive way, everyone agrees that we want to respect the arms embargo with greater controls than in the past. We have not solved all the problems but we have created the spirit, the basis for proceeding on the UN path designated by Salamé".

The UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, at a press conference: "There is no military solution, everyone agrees with this even those who may have a direct role in the conflict ", added, also explaining that the participants also agree on the end of external interference.

The Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte on twitter: “The members of the Joint Military Committee for Libya have finally been appointed. Go on like this". The reference is to the appointment of the members of the '5 + 5' committee responsible for monitoring the ceasefire. During the press conference he said: "We can be satisfied because in any case we have made progress, 55 shared points, which include the ceasefire, the embargo on the arrival of new weapons and a well-defined political-institutional path. The joint military committee has also been appointed to monitor, monitor that the truce is respected, we have significant progress".

Even the American secretary of state Mike Pompeo appears satisfied: “Productive dialogue in Berlin to find a political solution in Libya. We are at the side of the Libyan people as they work for a secure future, free from violence and foreign interference ".

The points of the agreement in the final declaration

The issue of the military mission

During the summit, the question of an international peace mission in Libya held the bench: the "hottest" theme of the Berlin conference seems to be tackled with opposing views from the Ghassan Salame and Giuseppe Conte. "I'm not sure there is room for a European mission in Libya, "says Salamè. According to the UN envoy for Libya, the option of external intervention should be considered a last resort. “If there is a strong political agreement, soldiers are less needed. If, on the other hand, the political agreement is very weak, there will never be enough soldiers on the ground to control peace". "We have presented a security plan which foresees the withdrawal of all foreign fighters, regardless of their nationality"Said Salamè." 

Luigi Di Maio believes that Italy can be part of a "interposition mission"Under the auspices of the United Nations:"Rome is ready to host the next meeting". The Foreign Minister added: "No more weapons must enter Libya. In the context of the UN umbrella and with precise rules on the ceasefire and the stop to the sale of weapons, I think that Italy can be part of an interposition mission".

However to the good intentions of the Berlin conference new clashes followed in the southern suburbs of Tripoli, according to news from Al Jazeera tonight. Now it will be up to see what Russia and Turkey will do in the Mediterranean and in Libya. The points of the Berlin agreement will most likely remain imprinted only on paper and will not have the desired effects on the ground since Turkey will shortly begin research and extraction activities in the eastern Mediterranean following the agreement signed on 8 December last. between Fayez al Serraj and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with the "silent but influential" endorsement of Russia. Putin and Erdogan want, in every way, to hinder the EastMed gas pipeline coming from Israel that will land in Cyprus and to revitalize the relevance of the new Russian-Turkish gas pipeline, Turkstream. Italy and Europe in all this have moved with an embarrassing delay.

The problem of oil extraction in Libya 

The Noc - National Oil Corporation - had to stop oil production also in the Southwest in the fields of El Sharara and El Feel after General Khalifa Haftar's militias closed an oil pipeline connected to the wells.

A militia close to Haftar has blocked the pipeline that carries crude oil from the field to the Zawiya refinery on the Mediterranean coast. Both the wells and the refinery are managed by "MOG", Mellitah Oil & Gas, the joint venture between Noc and the Italian Eni.

The head of the NOC asks "whether the Berlin Conference could proceed as if nothing had happened if the oil freeze would not be lifted. Any decision taken in these circumstances would not be legitimate and could not be lasting". Engineer Sanalla, head of the NOC continues by saying that "these tactics are unacceptable, you have to react as hard as possible. Blocking oil is a crime under Libyan law. Libya which should emerge from the Berlin conference should be a legal state. Continuing the conference under these conditions of illegality would be an acceptance of unacceptable illegality".

Workers at the El-Sharara (Akakus) field confirmed that production stopped gradually on Sunday after the shutdown of valves along the pipeline linking Rayan to the Zawiya refinery in the western region as part of a popular initiative against foreign interference and Turkish intervention in Libya. The anger of the Fezzan, an eventful youth who brings together young people from different tribes in southern Libya, said he was ready in the morning to close the oil fields again because their questions had not been heard, while the Presidential Council continues to use the sector's revenues oil to pay mercenaries and militias that prolong the conflict.

Production would also have been suspended in the el-Feel and Abu Attifel fields. The closure of the oil fields, after the suspension of exports from the ports of central and eastern Libya and the announcement of force majeure by the National Oil Corporation (NOC), took place while Berlin hosted the International Conference in Berlin that brought together 12 countries interested in the Libyan file as well as the United Nations, the African Union, the League of Arab States and the European Union. The head of the Supreme Council for the tribes of Azawiyah, Sheikh al-Senussi al-Haliq, said yesterday that the closure of oil fields and the cessation of pumping oil was a purely popular request and had nothing to do with anyone. other political or military faction.

Al-Haliq, responding to NOC allegations against the Libyan National Army (LNA) explained that "the various Libyan tribes attended a meeting held Friday in the Zwaitina area asking their children inside the camp to stop pumping oil because the Reconciliation Government in Tripoli brought Syrian mercenaries, weapons and ammunition to kill the Libyan people with his money, in addition to legitimizing the Turkish military intervention on Libyan soil".

Libya, Berlin Conference: "A late catwalk"