By Ariba Shahid and Mubasher Bukhari
ISLAMABAD, July 6 (Reuters) - Pakistan has quietly begun mediating between Libya’s rival eastern and western power centres, two Pakistani sources said, in a previously unreported Pakistani effort that would further raise its diplomatic profile if it succeeds.
The Pakistani involvement comes after observers have for months monitored a U.S.-led push to find a diplomatic solution in Libya, which has been split between rival eastern and western administrations since a civil war that broke out in the years after the 2011 NATO-backed uprising toppled Muammar Gaddafi.
Pakistan has been central to separate mediation between the U.S. and Iran this year, with its role repeatedly being credited by the Trump administration, and one of the Pakistani sources said the U.S. was “fully aware and involved” in Islamabad’s Libya role.
The effort was also being supported by Saudi Arabia, both sources said. Last year, Islamabad struck a mutual defence pact with Saudi Arabia, which has long sought influence in Libya, too.
Both Pakistani sources said the efforts began late last year and both Libyan sides requested its involvement. It was unclear to what extent Pakistan has been coordinating its efforts with other regional stakeholders.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry, its military media wing, western and eastern Libyan officials, and the foreign ministries of Qatar, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the U.S. did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
UNITY PLAN
Any successful plan to reunify Libya would need to balance the vastly different interests of foreign patrons and resolve disputes over posts, election rules and oil revenues that have derailed past attempts, analysts said.
“The United States has been pushing hard in Libya,” said Jalel Harchaoui, a contributor to Britain’s Royal United Services Institute think tank, “but the format it is trying to impose is still loose and ill-defined.”
A summary of a proposed “Libya Reunification Plan”, shared with Reuters, would set out a 36-month transitional power-sharing arrangement under a body called the Government of National Consensus and Presidential Council.
The proposal – which one Pakistani source cautioned was still being discussed in detail – would establish a transition period with Abdulhamid Dbeibah of the U.N.-recognised and western-based Libyan Government of National Unity as prime minister and Saddam Haftar, deputy commander of the eastern-based Libyan National Army, as chairman of the Presidential Council.
The faction around Haftar’s father, Khalifa Haftar, the commander-in-chief of the LNA, controls many of Libya’s biggest oilfields and key infrastructure, and the proposed plan would hand him authority over the budget.
A Pakistani source said Pakistan would play “an active role in making sure this whole arrangement stays in play”, with details still being worked on.
PAKISTANI MEDIATION
Last month, Pakistan’s army chief Asim Munir met Saddam Haftar in Rawalpindi – a meeting that was followed days later by Haftar’s visit to Washington, where he met with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The State Department said in a statement at the time that Rubio welcomed Libyan leaders’ efforts to overcome divisions and reaffirmed U.S. support for Libyan unity.
While analysts view Pakistan as a secondary player in Libya, where the U.S., the UAE, Turkey and Egypt have for years wrestled for influence, Islamabad has maintained ties with both sides that other regional actors may be lacking.
Pakistani officials have pursued defence ties with the eastern-based LNA, as Reuters reported in December, including the possible sale of JF-17 fighter jets and Super Mushshak trainer aircraft, despite a U.N. arms embargo.
But the rival western GNU also recently sought direct talks with Pakistan, according to an unreported document seen by Reuters.
Qatar as well as Turkey, one of the GNU’s biggest backers, were among the parties that encouraged Pakistan to get involved in mediation, two Pakistani sources familiar with the matter said.
Tarek Megerisi, director of geopolitical advisory firm Informmi, cautioned that there was no guarantee that any deal that was signed would stick, pointing to the agreement struck last year between leaders of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo that crumbled within months.
(Reporting by Ariba Shahid and Mubasher Bukhari in Islamabad; additional reporting by Alexander Dziadosz in Cairo; editing by Rick Noack and Alex Richardson)
