Category: Blog
Libyan Crisis Chess Game
With no surprise, UNMSIL’s Libyan dialogue conference on 5 January did not take place. Hafter’s airstrikes on Misrata’s airport and port ended the divisions among Misrata leadership on whether or not to join Bernardino Leon’s dialogue meeting between Tripoli’s GNC...
Divisions within Nidaa Tounes Delay Formation of New Government
Almost two weeks after his designation to form a new government, Habib Essid has not yet managed to reconcile all key actors and stakeholders to be able to do so. The Popular Front, with 16 seats in the parliament, had...
Dialogue in Libya: All Roads Lead to Tripoli’s GNC?
UNSMIL’s Bernardino Leon announced that political dialogue between the GNC and the Tobruk House of Representatives (HoR) would take place inside Libya within few days. The announcement was made at the GNC headquarters on 2 February, following Leon’s meeting with...
Realpolitik Prevails
On Monday 2 February, PM Habib Essid announced a revised composition of his cabinet following lengthy negotiations with the main political parties represented in the National Assembly. Despite deep disagreement within Nidaa Tounes, Ennahdha was attributed the employment portfolio in...
A President for All? Caid Essebsi Enrages Southern Tunisians.
Beji Caid Essebsi’s statement on a French TV channel, in which he declared that it was thanks to “Ennahdha, Islamists and Jihadi Salafis that Moncef Marzouki managed to go through to the second round of presidential elections” has triggered a...
A Compromise in the Making?
Echoes from Tripoli and Algiers indicate that a compromise for the Libyan crisis may be in the making. There is seemingly talk of a fresh roadmap through which both the General National Congress (GNC) in Tripoli and Tobruk’s House of...
Presidential Elections: Not without Surprises
As was expected, Mouncif Merzouki and Beji Caid Esebssi emerged as the top two favourites of voters in the first round of Tunisia’s presidential election. Partial and unofficial results show that Essebsi obtained around 39.46 % and Merzouki 33.43% of...
Bernardino Leon’s Balancing Act
Following the Supreme Court’s ruling of Nov. 5th which annulled the House of Representatives’ elections, UNSMIL announced that it “[took] note” of the decision and that it would be “studying it closely.” This wording and subsequent declarations by Bernardino Leon...