The Government of National Accord’s (GNA) Foreign Minister, Mohamed Tahar Siala, provoked uproar during the Algiers summit on 8 May when he told a press conference that he considered Field Marshall Khalifa Haftar to be the General Commander of the Libyan army. Responding to a question about how he viewed the Field Marshall, Siala stated explicitly that Haftar had been appointed by the House of Representatives (House) in 2014 and that, as such, he was the legitimate commander of the army.

Siala’s somewhat ill-considered comments unleashed a wave of fury in western Libya, breaking the uneasy sense of foreboding that had been hanging over the capital and beyond ever since Haftar had met with Fayez Serraj — the head of the Presidency Council — in the UAE, but that had yet to explode into outright anger and condemnation.

A whole host of forces and brigades, as well as local powerbrokers — many of them Islamist in orientation — responded by issuing statements and Facebook posts condemning Siala and refuting any suggestion that Haftar could ever be accepted as the head of Libya’s military.

Libya’s controversial Grand Mufti, Sheikh Sadiq al-Ghariani, lashed out hard, condemning not only Siala’s statement, but also those elements from Tripoli and Misrata who had signed up to the Libyan Political Agreement in December 2015 and who had selected to support the Presidency Council.

Indeed, these elements had only agreed to sign up to the political agreement on the understanding that Haftar would be specifically excluded from any future political or military post in the new arrangements. At the time the agreement was signed, Salah Makhzoum — a prominent Islamist and former deputy head of the General National Congress (GNC) — came on Libyan television boasting of how the Islamists had pushed Haftar out of the way through the agreement, and specifically through Article 8 of the additional provisions.

This sudden turn of events — with the Presidency Council and its minister seemingly cosying up to Haftar with the backing of the international community — has shaken these elements to the core. They smell something rotten in the air and suspect that some sort of back room deal is being struck through which — despite their having played ball by accepting the political agreement — they are about to lose out in a major way.    … [article continues] …

This is an excerpt from an article in our weekly Libya Politics & Security publication.