MISRATA: The head of Libya’s unity government on Sunday declared the main coast road across its inactive frontline reopened, but eastern-based forces allowed no traffic through, underscoring unresolved divisions that threaten a fragile peace process.
Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibeh used a mechanical digger to remove the earth roadblock at the last western checkpoint on the highway.
“We will meet soon in Sirte’’, he said, referring to the city just across the frontline further down the desert road as he opened its western end, three days before international talks on Libya are due to resume in Germany.
But the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) of Khalifa Haftar — which holds most of eastern and southern Libya — did not open the road beyond the frontline, and a media unit of the LNA said there was “no truth to what is rumoured about it reopening”.
Dbeibeh’s convoy headed east towards Sirte but stopped at point nearer LNA positions, where shipping containers and another earthen rampart cut the road and turned back.
The incident highlights the difficulties facing Dbeibeh, whose government is officially recognised by both sides in Libya and their foreign backers. The eastern-based parliament has for weeks blocked Dbeibeh’s efforts to pass a budget and, earlier on Sunday, the LNA said it had closed the border with Algeria after deploying forces in the south.
Libya, a major North African oil producer, has had little peace or stability since a Nato-backed uprising against Gaddafi in 2011 and a split in 2014 between warring eastern and western factions. Several armed groups still wield power in different areas. — AFP
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