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Libyan protests may widen divide between political elites, says expert

According to the expert, renewed protests cannot resolve the issues that have piled up in the Libyan economy and management

MOSCOW, August 31. /TASS/. Protests in Libya may widen the divide between the military and political elites in the northwestern part of the country, who have united against the Libyan National Army (LNA), Research Director of the Valdai Discussion Club Foundation for Development and Support Fyodor Lukyanov told TASS on Monday.

According to the expert, renewed protests cannot resolve the issues that have piled up in the Libyan economy and management. "On the other hand, they can aggravate the significant tensions and widen the divide between the military and political elites of northwestern Libya, who have temporarily united in the face of a common enemy: field marshal Khalifa Haftar," he said.

He explained that opponents of the Government of National Accord (GNA) can use the situation to their advantage to undermine the Libyan regulation talks. Destructive forces represented by members of the IS and Al-Qaeda (terrorist organizations outlawed in Russia - TASS) and radical representatives of ethnic minorities in Libya may also benefit from the protests, Lukyanov added.

The protests in northwestern Libya are a result of "clearly inefficient state social-economic policy" implemented by the GNA during the time of war, the coronavirus pandemic and the state budget deficit.

Protests against the GNA, the worsening economic situation in the country and corruption have been going on in Tripoli over the past week. Head of the GNA Fayez Al-Sarraj said in a televised address that the country’s people had the right to hold peaceful protests. He also pledged to make an urgent cabinet reshuffle.

Currently, Libya has two parallel bodies of executive power: the internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) headed by Fayez al-Sarraj, and an interim government operating in the country’s east together with parliament and supported by the Libyan National Army (LNA), led by Commander Khalifa Haftar.

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