British authorities seeks to return visas in Libya to Tripoli

British diplomats, headed by Ambassador Peter Millett, were back at the historic British consulate in Tripoli Old City to host a reception for Libyan students who have been awarded Chevening scholarships to undertake postgraduate study in Britain.

The building, just behind the Gurgi Mosque by the Marcus Aurelius Arch and formally now known as the Nweji Cultural House, served as the British consulate from 1744 until 1940 when Italy came out in support of Nazi Germany, declared war on the UK and expelled British diplomats.

Monday’s reception, the first hosted by the British since the embassy returned to the capital, honoured students who have been awarded the scholarship between 2014 and 2016 as well as the 11 Libyans have been awarded the prestigious Chevening Scholarships to study in the UK this year.

“Chevening scholarships are a vital way for Libyans to study in the United Kingdom and return to Libya with new skills and experiences that will help to promote economic reform to the benefit of all Libyans, Millett said at the reception, at which the new 11 Libyan scholars were presented certificates to mark their award.

Applicants who applied for the next academic year will be shortlisted in for interviews by the British embassy between January and early February. The results will be announced next June.

On military side, Two soldiers died and one escaped when an Libyan National Army (LNA) patrol came under fire from militants south of Derna.

It is understood that when it was attacked the patrol moved to cover and detonated a mine. The militants then tried to seize the two bodies but the LNA told Libya Channel 24 that they were driven off by other troops who then recovered the two dead men, whose corpses were taken to the hospital at Guba.

On the other hand, Five months after he was appointed to lead UN peace efforts in Libya, Ghassan Salame says he is focused on building institutions as a way to unite the country. The 66-year-old Lebanese-born academic told AFP in an interview that if state institutions can begin to work, Libya will finally change course after years of chaos since the fall of Muammar Qaddafi in 2011.

“The key to my approach is institutions,” Salame said. “If in a year or two, we can began to reunite, revive and liberate institutions, then the country will be on a different path.” A UN-mediated political deal in 2015 was supposed to unite Libya, but the country remains divided between a government in Tripoli that enjoys UN support and a rival authority based in Tobruk in the east.

Salame said shoring up Libya’s institutions means stepping away from “the basic competition between individuals, who tell you they represent big tribes until you discover that they represent very little.” Under Kadhafi’s four decades of authoritarian rule, Libya was devoid of functioning state institutions as the leader “cemented his power by systematically destroying institutions.” In his action plan, the UN envoy hopes to set a course to elections, by beginning voter registration in December and convening a national conference in February to draw a consensus about elections.

It remains unclear whether Libya will hold presidential, legislative and local elections at the same time and no timetable has been set for the polls. “I haven’t decided yet,” said Salame. “The country is not ready for any election. For elections to be held, there are technical, political and security conditions that have to be met. None of these are currently there.”

A referendum on a new constitution is also planned, said the former Lebanese culture minister. Salame insists that elections in Libya must not deepen divisions. “The thing that leaves me panicked is the idea that we could hold elections that would create a third parliament and the same result for the government,” he said.

“In Libya there must be a recognition that elections are to replace Mister X with Mister Y and not add Mister Y to Mister X,” he said. On Libya’s many divisions, Salame said there are currently “two governments that are holding on from previous periods” and a third formed from the 2015 political deal.

“I don’t want a fourth government” in Libya, he said. Elections can be held if the “main actors make a commitment that whoever is elected will replace what currently exists, and will not be added on to what currently exists.”