East Libya-based lawmakers reject Haftar's coup

By Diana Shalhoub

TRIPOLI (AA) - Members of the East Libya-based parliament on Monday rejected an attempted coup by the warlord Khalifa Haftar.

This came in a statement issued by 11 prominent members of the Tobruk-based parliament in which they stressed support to a peace initiative proposed by its speaker Aguila Saleh.

The parliament "fully supports Saleh's initiative as a final political solution to the Libyan crisis."

Notably, the parliament currently holds its sessions with only some one-fifth of its 200 lawmakers.

The lawmakers called on all sides to accept the initiative, asserting it comprises "a mechanism of selection and decision-making, a fair distribution of wealth between regions and the appointment of a new committee of experts to develop a consensual constitution."

Following the ouster of late ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya’s government was founded in 2015 under a UN-led political deal.

Since April 2019, the government has been under attack by Haftar’s forces, based in eastern Libya, and more than 1,000 people have been killed in the violence.

With the continuous defeats of Haftar in the battlefield against Libyan government forces, Saleh announced late April a proposal to reach a political solution to the crisis.

Immediately after the proposal, Hafter declared himself the sole ruler of Libya, dropping the UN-brokered Skhirat agreement signed in 2015 between Libyan warring sides, the move which was condemned by international actors and regional allies.

Haftar, however, was unable to overthrow the Tobruk-based House of Representatives and its speaker Saleh -- who was seen as a subordinate of Haftar -- as he enjoys major tribal support in East Libya.

* Writing by Mahmoud Barakat