In Libya, the two rival prime ministers are still at odds. The first, Abdel Hamid Dbeibah, is leading the international community and trying to isolate the second, Fathi Bachagha.
The tension has risen a notch in Libya where, at the end of August, the two rival Prime Ministers, Fathi Bachagha and Abdel Hamid Dbeibah, provoked violence in Tripoli. The Libyan capital had not seen such fighting for two years. It all started with an attack on Tripoli planned by pro-Bachagha forces. Those of Dbeibah then took position to engage in combat, which left several dozen dead.
The situation being untenable, on September 9 was to take place a mini-summit in Berlin, devoted to Libya, on September 9. A symbolic date, since a year ago to the day, the Libyan Parliament passed an electoral law which was to lead to the postponement of the presidential election.
But the famous meeting in Berlin was ultimately only an announcement effect. While Turkey, currently very active in the mediation between the two clans of Prime Ministers, Egypt and the "P3+2" group, which brings together the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy, were to participate in the mini-summit, this one was a snub.
Refusal of visa and travel to Misrata
According to Africa Intelligence, the German diplomat Christian Buck was at the helm of the organization. He had proposed to the two Libyan camps to send emissaries within a consensual delegation, made up of representatives of the two clans and members of civil society. A consensus that was not found: none of the members of the “P3+2” group was able to go to Libya to prepare for the meeting, a few days before it, at the end of August.
Is it linked to the events that shook Tripoli? The French newspaper assures that it is Prime Minister Abdel Hamid Dbeibah who is at the origin of this blockage. Since his government is in charge of visas, it reportedly refused German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock's special envoy for Libya his visa. The fault with the will of Christian Buck to meet Bachagha.
Abdel Hamid Dbeibah seems determined to isolate his rival on the international diplomatic scene. However, the international community wants to discuss with both sides to try to find a solution. Africa Intelligence also assures that, this summer, other personalities have been refused to go to Misrata to meet Bachagha there: the American ambassador Richard Norland, that of the United Kingdom Caroline Hurndall, or even the director of the Middle East of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO), Stephen Hickey, were indeed blocked in Tripoli.
Abdel Hamid Dbeibah therefore makes life difficult for Fathi Bachagha. By isolating it from the international community, it is in the process of marginalizing it and posing as the sole interlocutor with the international community.