Cape Town — There has been mixed reactions following the decision by soldiers loyal to Khalifa Haftar to suspend their participation in the 5+5 committee. The military committee was set up at the Berlin political agreement and is one of the three dialogue processes which led to the ceasefire in Tripoli in 2020.

This committee is made up of five soldiers representing the ANL (the Libyan National Army, based in eastern Libya) which is led by Khalifa Haftar and five other soldiers representing Tripoli and western Libya. In a filmed press release, read in the presence of the five representatives of the eastern Libyan camp to the 5+5 mixed military committee loyal to Khalifa Haftar – they announced that they were suspending their participation.

The announcement threatens the progress made since the 2020 ceasefire. The announcement focuses on four specific points.

In a direct address to their leader, Khalifa Haftar, the soldiers demanded the closure of the coastal road which connects the east and the west of Libya, the suspension of all flights between the east and the west and to suspend all forms of cooperation with the government of interim Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh.

Unpaid wages

In their statement, eastern representatives also attacked the Dbeibah government, accusing it of unpaid salaries for four months.

Tripoli demanded precise lists with the name and rank of each ANL soldier in order to pay – a request that Benghazi refused, due to security concerns. The disgruntled soldiers however have the backing of their colleagues from western Libya, who are calling on the prime minister to pay all the soldiers, warning of a return to square one.