Members of the Libyan American Public Affairs Council (LAPAC) met, on Wednesday and Thursday, with a staff of the White House National Security Council, the foreign and defense ministries, and the Senate House.
The discussion tackled five main topics; the first was the Libyan and international inability to provide medical support for the wounded rebels who were injured in the war against the Islamic State group (IS).
The members of the Libyan delegation noted that such inability affects the spirits, adding that there is an international duty to present this support for those who fight to push away harm from all humanity not only Libya.
“We believe that the solution to the problems of Libya will only be in the hands of Libyans themselves. But we appreciate that the International Community and the United States have an important role that should be invested for the benefit of building a strong Libyan state, which depends on our heritage and principles of February revolution,” Council chief Esam Emish said.
They refused what the American side said about the inability is due to the lack of spending items in the US budget.
Ali Al-Jurushi noted that the rebels would continue their journey away from the international failure, noting that the lack of support will harm the credibility of the global war on terrorism.
After lengthy debate, officials from the US administration and the Senate approved to activate the medical support and rush it even in limited quantities. Senator John McCain’s position was important as he rejected the argument of lack of money in the US budget, his office promised to follow-up procedures.
The meeting also discussed protecting the Libyan borders against extremists sneaking into Libya. The Secretary General of the Council, Emad El-din Montaser, stated that neighboring countries have to take action to control its borders, instead of blaming Libya.
He wondered why can’t the world, especially the US Treasury Department, to disclose the sources of funding for terrorism in Libya, and mentioned some last regime icons who are suspected of supporting the IS. Officials stated that investigation was ongoing, but fund sources weren’t known so far.
The third axis of the debate was the return of the former regime icons to areas controlled by Khalifa Haftar. Emish warned that complacency with those would have serious consequences for the democratic process in Libya and the common interests of Libya and America.
The fourth was the presentation of the actions of the counter-revolution in Libya that drives it back. The delegation concentrated on sayings that rebels who fight the IS are Al-Qaeda affiliated. They also discussed saying of Libya’s alleged ambassador to the UN that the IS will be replaced by Al-Qaeda in the case of the success of the rebels in Sirte.
The delegation quoted the testimony of researcher, Frederick Wherry, who just came back from the first line of fire there and met with rebels in the military fronts and the leaders in Sirte and Misrata who totally denied any al Qaeda presence or its extremist ideology.
One senior government official has expressed outrage at the stances of Libya’s ambassador to the United Nations and expressed surprise at the failure of successive governments of Libya to isolate him.
The delegation presented to relevant officials to cancel the accreditation of the ambassador which was made by the Council of the Legal Department of the United Nations and the Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon.
The fifth axis of the debate was the damaging role played by Haftar under the false war on terrorism. The delegation presented evidence on coup plan by Hafter as well as the continued support of some regional powers.
One official said that the United States opposes any entity working to prolong the war, or to divide Libya, adding that the US has already warned three Middle Eastern countries of the consequences of continuing to support Hafter and breaking the international law in this regard. Some officials wondered about the possibility of persuading Haftar to engage in the political process which was discarded by Emad El-din.
LAPAC delegation visited the Carnegie Endowment for Peace to exchange ideas and met where to discuss his latest visit to Sirte and Misrata. He refused allegations by Libya’s ambassador to UN and promised to take his most recent views to American officials.
The delegation invited officials to communicate with the Libyan press, and visit Libya, to follow up by themselves, and not to depend on information from some agencies and embassies that hate freedom for Libya and finance counter-revolution.
McCain agreed to these proposals, as well as the State Department promised to study the suggestion. Emad El-din expressed the satisfaction of the results of these meetings and pledged to follow up with all officials to ensure that the agreements reached will be executed.
