National Council on US-Libya Relations (NCUSLR)

    LOS ANGELES, CA, September 21, 2016 /24-7PressRelease/ --

1) Attempts to revive the current UN brokered Skheirat agreement has failed due to poor preparation and lack of understanding of how dynamics of political, cultural and tribal factors are interlinked in Libya.

2) UN, the six principal European backers of the agreement and the US had imposed a non compromising single track direction which helped alienate rather than unite differing partners. Key players and proposals which could have facilitated correction of deviations on the spirit and words of the Skheirat agreement were ignored.

3) The Agreement could not be adopted by the internationally recognized House of Representatives (HoR) in its current form. Reiterations and the lack of transparency in addition to its appeasement of illegitimate power brokers, have led to loss of confidence in the Presidency Council and its appointed head. Furthermore the influence of militias in Tripoli thwarts any chance for a government to work objectively, independently and on its free will on behalf of all Libyans.

4) The lack of substantial delivery of institutional and humanitarian support by the international community in the months following the signing of the agreement together with the continuation of control of day to day currency manipulation, human trafficking and street crimes, in the absence of proper law enforcement institutions, has led to worsening of the conditions of living and collapse of human security of Libya.

5) Attempts to recommence sale of Libyan oil at the cost of allying with Ibrahim Jadhran, an embezzling local warlord, was the last straw that broke any remaining confidence in the nation building values premised within the UN brokered agreement and advocated by the international brokers and attenuated the will of Libyan nationalist to unite under a compromised solution.

6) While successes have been made by Libyans and internationals in the specific objective of eradication of the IS terrorist base in Sirte, it has come at the high expanse of life, limb and material of mostly the sons of the city of Misratah with thousands of casualties whom were poorly attended to by the unprepared international advocates of this war against terrorism.

7) The swift take-over of oil export terminals by the Libyan National Army and the subsequent hand-over of oil export responsibility to the Libyan National Oil Company is a welcome step in assuring increase in the production and export of oil, the principal source of income for the whole of Libya.

8) Rather than supporting this action, the UN representative to Libya was quick to act in a negative manner followed by a hasty non constructive joint statement by the US and its principal European allies on Libya,

9) The NCUSLR sees the current situation as an opportunity to reach out to all Libyan players and to include all in a transparent process which would replace the terribly failed Skheirat agreement.

10) A new lean and effective technocratic executive council should be agreed upon to effectively expedite the arrest of the spiraling economic and human security conditions in Libya. The selection process should be impartial and based on qualifications and avoid the error of appeasement as previously experienced.

11) HoR should seek to activate the existing Libyan constitution promptly with minor modifications as a temporary five year measure to stabilize the country until it is capable of a thorough revision.

12) Internationals should conference to rally around support of the existing Libyan executive council and national army and to call upon all members of the HoR to immediately return to their functions so to allow conduct of daily affairs and implementation of a newly proposed agreement.

13) The National Council on US Libya Relations with its experts on Libya stands ready to provide any assistance to all parties interested in resolving the current conflict and to engage in whatever capacity deemed necessary to mediate and build confidence among Libyans, and to participate in rebuilding Libya.

The mission of the National Council on US-Libya Relations is to disseminate information about Libya and to strengthen relations between the United States and Libya.

National Council on US Libya Relations (NCUSLR)'s mission is designed to better educate the US public on Libya and to promote relations between the people of the two countries. NCULSR was recently established as a non-profit organization with a tax exempt status.

Relations between USA and Libya encompass many essential facets which include education, culture, trade and many others for which the key for its success is good information -- which is terribly lacking today.

Since Libya's independence in 1951, the USA has prided itself in its ability to design and implement a mature and well executed foreign US policy in its relation to Libya.

More recently, and in particularly over the last ten years, it appears that the National Security Council, State Department, the US media and the public have become indented with misinformation about Libya, mostly fed by foreign interest groups and governments, to the detriment of the development of a sound US policy on Libya and its interests in the region at large.

Many have expressed concern with the continuation of the infiltration of such dangerous misinformation and its negative influence on US interests for so many years.

Libyans and American, individuals, government and Non-government organizations have often expressed opinions to this matter but in the absence of a focused effort, have not been effective in providing the necessary educated opinion on Libya to the US public.

NCULSR aims to be the focal point to these opinions which represent a most significant proportion of the Libyan people and their future.

CO-FOUNDERS
Hani Shennib, M.D., Chair, NCUSLR
Clinical Professor, Department of Surgery
University of Arizona, College of Medicine, Phoenix
602-540-7577
[email protected]

Hassan Sassi, PHD
Vice Chair, NCUSLR
Walnut, California
213-663-8927
[email protected]

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