Ahmad 
Despite his recent shuttle meetings in Libya, differences are surfacing between the UN envoy to Libya, Abdullah Batele, and the parties to the dialogue there, reaching the end of the mission of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations in Libya.
According to observers, the UN mission lay under a “clinical death” experience, despite Battelli’s attempt to revive it with doses of intensive meetings with ambassadors of influential world powers in Tripoli.
The culmination of the dispute was evident after Osama Hammad, the head of the Libyan government, charged by the parliament, renewed his refusal to deal with the UN envoy to Libya, Abdullah Batelli, and considered him an unwelcome person in the areas controlled by his government in the east of the country.
In a speech marking the 13th anniversary of the revolution that toppled four decades of Muammar Gaddafi’s rule, Hammad said his government, which was assigned by the Libyan House of Representatives in exchange for the government of Abdullah Dabaiba, is ready to work with Patele’s successor, who he accused of pursuing wrong policies and practices.
Hammad’s demand was preceded by a statement last Friday, February 16, urging Pateley’s exclusion from the Libyan dialogue and sending a new UN envoy, after Battele said at a Security Council session on Libya that the actors in the country are not ready to settle differences and go to elections, where Hammad accused the UN mission of siding with one party at the expense of another party in the internal Libyan dialogue and called on citizens to stick to choosing their representatives through fair elections.
Dramatic shift towards UN mission in Libya
Hammad’s remarks indicate a dramatic shift in the attitude of the Libyan parties towards the UN mission. In January, the commander-in-chief of the Libyan National Army, Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, met with the UN envoy in his office at the headquarters of the Libyan National Army in Benghazi. At that time, Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar stressed to him the importance of the role of the UN mission, and the importance of making more balanced efforts to push the political process forward and assured him that the General Command supports the efforts of the UN mission. Batelli also praised the distinguished position of the General Command of the Libyan National Army, and its key role in maintaining security and stability. But Pateley’s recent statements by repudiating his remarks in Benghazi seem to have greatly angered the east.
Experts point out that Haftar and the Hammad government tried to give the UN envoy the last chance to move wisely in dealing with the election file and not to deviate from the aspirations of Libyans by imposing decisions from abroad in any political action within the national dialogue.
This is not the first time that Libyans have warned the UN envoy against external interference in the Libyan decision. Last August, a tripartite meeting between Haftar, Speaker of the House of Representatives Aguila Saleh, and President of the Presidential Council Mohamed al-Menfi cut off the way for Batelli and issued him a clear warning and called on him not to take any unilateral steps in the Libyan political track, after the latter demanded the formation of a high-level committee. The election laws prepared by the 6+6 Joint Parliamentary Committee are deadlocked.
What is behind Batili’s Tripoli yarn?
As for the Government of National Unity, led by Abdul Hamid Dabaiba, it refuses to form a new government, stressing that it will only hand over power to a government appointed by an elected parliament, and with these conditions elections cannot be held. If force is used against Tripoli to comply, it could lead to a resumption of Libyan infighting. The stated vision of the Government of National Unity supports the efforts of UN envoy Abdallah Batele, but the real position revolves around the need to change the electoral law, a dilemma that may lead the parties to the Libyan dialogue to an impasse.
In his meetings with representatives of influential countries, Dabaiba shows his position in support of the United Nations mission, especially during his meetings with ambassadors of Western countries, but many observers are skeptical of this declared position, and Dabaiba tries to circumvent all that the mission has submitted by putting forward its conditions related to changing laws as an important priority.
What Batteley is doing has become a difficult task to achieve, which has become a mirage that is difficult to reach. According to political experts, Battelly is working to rotate the Libyan crisis so that things remain as they are for a long time. Attempts to breathe life into the clinically dead Patele initiative seem to fail and become mere moves within routine UN missions.