last updates May 30
Thanks to some comments by h at Refugees and Human Traficking, something new (as far as I know)
Libya Dawn revolutionaries show support for GNC
Libya Dawn Operation revolutionaries representing 23 cites issued on Wednesday a statement in Al-Zaweya to show support to the General National Congress as the sole legitimacy in Libya urging everyone to comply with its orders.
The statement indicated that all of the revolutionaries must be united all around Libya and that Libya Dawn partners are not allowed to declare neither war nor peace unilaterally.
May 20 2015
4 Misrata Brigades confirm their support for dialogue, putting an end to the fighting.
In Misrata, 236 revolutionary brigades are registered with the Misratan Union of Revolutionaries (MUR),7 accounting for almost 40,000fighters
http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/fileadmin/docs/F-Working-papers/SAS-WP12-After-the-Fall-Libya.pdf
This was preceded by European threats over the recent death voyages, coming from ports run by Libya Dawn. GNC officials had been complicit, out of greed and/or fear, but "when Italy and other major EU state leaders started talking about
military action to destroy the smuggler boats before they could load up
with illegal migrants," the GNC offered to patrol the coast with EU coordination, to stop the traffic. Italy, by far the biggest absorber of the influx, welcomed the move.
Al-Arabiya Italy welcomes collaboration with GNC
But... there was dissent:
Mufti Ghariani denounces Misrata brigades statement for peace and reconciliation
And this acceptance was issued at a time when, the Misratans may have had reason to know, they were about to claim the GNC betrayed their newfound friendship, and perhaps be forced to again be at odds with them. Within nine days, as Libya Herald reports on 29 May, "Libya’s largest airbase falls into IS hands as Misratans blame GNC" Did the GNC fold and retreat and let ISIS/Daesh take over? No, the Misratans did:
''Forces supporting the Islamic State (IS) have taken control of Gardabiya airbase in Sirte, Libya’s largest airbase, after Misrata’s 166 Brigade retreated last night from its remaining positions in the town ... [and IS] is reported to have taken control also of the Manmade River complex some 25 kilometres east of the town. It too had been in the hands of 166 Brigade.''
Misratans blame the GNC for this loss, by refusing to arm the Misratans adequately (in the few days they'd been cooperating?) and they blame ISIS for having too many weapons (or are they saying the GNC has armed them?)
“We did not get any support from the GNC. We don’t have enough weapons, enough vehicles. The other side has everything,” a local official said.
The commander of 166, Mohamed Ahusan, echoed that they had no choice, adding that this had been an issue and he had already threatened to just pull out if he didn't get the right support. So this is a conscious decision finally taken, just after they had feigned cooperation, and it might've been presaged with deception; the Herald report mentions conflicting "separate reports yesterday that although a different Misratan brigade had decided to pull out of Sirte because of the lack of backing from the GNC, 166 and a handful of others had agreed at a meeting with the council to stay on and fight IS."
Might that be part of why reinforcements weren't sent? Was this a surprise withdrawal of 166 despite their promise to stay? How would that be the GNC's fault? Doesn't matter - they're on their own with the backstabbers and ISIS teaming up like this to spread their Islamo-nihilist zone.
:''
Meanwhile the international community, notably the EU and the US, continues to insist that it will not help anyone in Libya fight IS until there is a government of national unity – a scenario that looks as remote now as when the UNSMIL dialogue process restarted four months ago in Geneva.
