Photo Credit: Reuters/Hani Amara

Libya’s new parliament held its “first formal session…in a heavily guarded hotel in the eastern city of Tobruk,” after the capital Tripoli and the second largest city of Benghazi were deemed unsafe. The new House of Representatives (HoR) is meant to replace the General National Congress (GNC) as former GNC deputy chief Azzedine al-Awami noted ”a swift transition from the GNC to the new parliament is vital because the country is in turmoil.”

However, the transfer of power from the GNC to the new parliament has been a point of contention as  head of the GNC, Nuri Abu Sahmain struggled with the HoR leadership in deciding the location of the “GNC-House of Representatives handover.” While the HoR wants the handover ceremony to happen in Tobruk, the GNC maintains it should be held in Tripoli. The “tug of war” between the two legislative bodies comes in the midst of ongoing violence that threatens to escalate into total civil war. The violence comes “as a result of a political vacuum partly by the loss of legitimacy of the outgoing GNC,” rendering the smooth transfer of power ever more crucial.

Meanwhile, amid diplomatic pullouts by the U.S., France, Canada, and the U.K. from Libya, some have called not abandon hope. Karim Mezran argues in the New York Times that while embassy security is obviously top priority, international representatives should “maintain contact with Libya’s major political actors” instead of fleeing the country “if they wish to mediate a solution to the conflict.” According to Mezran, deteriorating humanitarian conditions could result in an influx of migrants to Europe, adding that a “Libya dominated by extremist militants” could become “a sanctuary for terrorist organizations” thus posing a threat to the region and the West. Since Libyan’s have “demonstrated little capacity to keep their transition from derailing,” it is up to the international community to show “that closing diplomatic shop does not mean they are checking out.”

Related posts: