Trump’s resource diplomacy comes to Libya with Massad Boulos

Since the 2011 overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi, Libya has remained de facto split between competing political and military centers of power. Although the UN-backed Government of National Unity, headed by Dbeibah, is internationally recognized, much of eastern Libya is controlled by the Haftar family and their Libyan Arab Armed Forces, leaving the country unable to function as a unified state.

Boulos has spent more than a year trying to broker an arrangement between the two factions, saying publicly that if the deal is successful, it could be signed in Washington in Trump’s presence.

Boulos’ latest trip last week illustrates how his shuttle diplomacy is driving the talks: He started Monday in Malta before traveling to Misrata, then to Tripoli, where he met Dbeibah and the technocrats overseeing Libya’s finances, and then to Benghazi, for a sit-down with Haftar. He ended the trip back in Tripoli, where he met with Libya’s interior minister and UN Special Representative Hanna Tetteh.

The tour followed a symbolically loaded moment the week before, when Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Saddam Haftar — Khalifa Haftar’s son, deputy, and presumed successor — in Washington, in a major status boost for a man with no official political title.

“It was quite a significant move for the secretary to welcome basically a military commander to the seventh floor of the State Department,” said Ben Fishman, former National Security Council director for Libya during the Obama administration and a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Critics fear the proposed Boulos settlement could collapse into renewed fighting. Karim Mezran of the Atlantic Council warned that various factions could react badly to the deal, and “if one of the militias starts shooting at the others, then what happens?”

Others argue the deal guts a parallel UN process aimed at elections and long-term political resolution, sidelining ordinary Libyans from having a say in their political future.

“I think it basically kills the UN plan,” Fishman said. “These guys have no interest in giving up power. …The problem in Libya historically has been that once people have access to the money of the state, they fight like hell not to let it go or give away that access to power and wealth.”

The Trump administration refuted that notion. “The United States continues to support the [United Nations Support Mission in Libya] roadmap,” the State Department official said.