- Pakistan is mediating between Libya's rival eastern and western power centers for peace efforts
- US President Trump supports Pakistan's role in Libya mediation alongside Saudi Arabia's backing
- A Libya reunification plan proposes a 36-month transitional power-sharing government structure
After mediating an interim ceasefire deal between the United States and Iran, Pakistan has reportedly turned to Libya to further its peacemaking efforts. Islamabad is quietly mediating between Libya's rival eastern and western power centres, according to news agency Reuters.
The report of Pakistani involvement comes amid months of a US-led push to find a diplomatic solution in Libya. If Pakistan is successful in its endeavour, it'll help in further raising its diplomatic profile.
The North African country has been split between rival eastern and western administrations since a civil war that broke out in the years after the 2011 NATO-backed uprising toppled Muammar Gaddafi.
Inside Pak's Mediation Efforts
US President Donald Trump, who has credited Islamabad for its mediation efforts in reaching a deal with Iran, was "fully aware and involved" in Pakistan's role in Libya, sources told Reuters.
According to the report, Saudi Arabia, which has a mutual defence pact with Islamabad, is also supporting Pakistan's peacemaker role bid in Libya. The kingdom long sought influence in Libya, too.
Sources told Reuters that efforts began late last year, and both Libyan sides requested its involvement. But it remains unclear to what extent Islamabad has been coordinating with other regional stakeholders for its efforts.
Neither Pakistan nor any Libyan officials-- western or eastern -- or any foreign patron, including Qatar, Turkey, Saudi Arabia or the US, has issued any comment on the matter yet.
Inside The Unity Plan
Any successful plan to reunify Libya would need to balance the vastly different interests of foreign patrons. The disputes in the country range from administrative posts and election rules to oil revenues and have derailed the attempts for decades.
"The United States has been pushing hard in Libya," Jalel Harchaoui, a contributor to Britain's Royal United Services Institute think tank, told Reuters. "But the format it is trying to impose is still loose and ill-defined," he added.
A summary of a proposed "Libya Reunification Plan", reported by Reuters, showed it would set out a 36-month transitional power-sharing arrangement under a body called the Government of National Consensus and Presidential Council.
The proposal – which one Pakistani source cautioned was still being discussed in detail – would establish a transition period with Abdulhamid Dbeibah of the UN-recognised and western-based Libyan Government of National Unity as prime minister and Saddam Haftar, deputy commander of the eastern-based Libyan National Army, as chairman of the Presidential Council.
The faction around Haftar's father, Khalifa Haftar, the commander-in-chief of the LNA, controls many of Libya's biggest oilfields and key infrastructure, and the proposed plan would hand him authority over the budget.
A Pakistani source said Islamabad would play "an active role in making sure this whole arrangement stays in play", with details still being worked on.
Pak's Mediation
Last month, Pakistan's army chief Asim Munir met Saddam Haftar in Rawalpindi – a meeting that was followed days later by Haftar's visit to Washington, where he met with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The State Department said in a statement at the time that Rubio welcomed Libyan leaders' efforts to overcome divisions and reaffirmed US support for Libyan unity.
While analysts view Pakistan as a secondary player in Libya, where the US, the UAE, Turkey and Egypt have for years wrestled for influence, Islamabad has maintained ties with both sides that other regional actors may be lacking.
Pakistani officials have pursued defence ties with the eastern-based LNA, as Reuters reported in December, including the possible sale of JF-17 fighter jets and Super Mushshak trainer aircraft, despite a UN arms embargo.
But the rival western GNU also recently sought direct talks with Pakistan, according to an unreported document seen by Reuters.
Qatar, as well as Turkey, one of the GNU's biggest backers, was among the parties that encouraged Pakistan to get involved in mediation, two Pakistani sources familiar with the matter said.
Tarek Megerisi, director of the geopolitical advisory firm Informmi, cautioned that there was no guarantee any signed deal would hold, citing the agreement struck last year between the leaders of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which crumbled within months.
