The UN special envoy Ghassan Salamé had talks in Tripoli today with Presidency Council (PC) head Faiez Serraj on his new action plan to resolve the Libyan crisis. According to the PC’s media office, the discussions focussed on “the next step” of the road map. This is believed to refer to the grand gathering of Libyan notables.
There is growing speculation that with the stalemate in the talks on amending the Libyan Political agreement between the dialogue committees of the House of Representatives and the State Council, Salamé want to move quickly to the grand assembly.
At today’s talks Salamé was accompanied by his new political adviser, Claudia Gazzini, who is coordinating the assembly. While in Tripoli, Salamé also had discussions with Italian ambassador Giuseppe Perrone as well as with Turkish ambassador Ahmet Dogan. Salamé is due to brief the UN Security Council on Libya later this week.
The United Nations Special Envoy to Libya, Ghassan Salama, submitted to the House of Representatives "Tobruk" and the state "Tripoli" a new proposal to amend the articles on the executive authority in the political agreement reached in the Moroccan resort of Skhirat, including important points, most notably the formation of the Presidency of the State of A President and two Vice-Chairmen, to take its decisions unanimously.
On the other hand, the joint forces of the Libyan National Accord Government denied on Monday that they were involved in the mass murder of 28 people, whose bodies were discovered west of the capital Tripoli last week.
An official in the National Libyan Army told Asharq Al-Awsat that the corpses were found in the al-Hira region southeast of Warshefana some 60 kms southwest of Tripoli on Wednesday. He explained the victims were identified as fighters there and they were killed when they attempted to escape combat.
Gunshots and signs of torture were detected on the corpses. “This means that they were killed by the Geryan or Tarhouna militias because they were deployed in that region,” said the official on condition of anonymity.
The clashes in Warshefana took place between the armed forces there and forces led by the Zintan rebels military council and the western military region that is affiliated with the National Accord Government of Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj.
Ahmed Hamza, of Libya's National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR), said the bodies were found in the Wadi al-Hira region. The Red Crescent and Health Ministry have since transferred them to the Ali Omar Askar hospital in al-Sbiya region.Medical sources confirmed from the relatives that the victims had marks of torture and gunshot wounds to the head and chest, meaning that they were part of a mass execution.
Hamza added that the spokesman of the Sarraj-linked joint force should be held legally accountable for refuting involvement in the crime. The spokesman had previously denied the charges, saying that the claims were “completely baseless.” Sarraj’s forces last week seized control of the Warshefana region after battles that left 70 people dead.