GNA-Turkey agreement illegitimate – Rights group

Maat Foundation for Peace, Development and Human Rights released a new report on the sidelines of its participation in the 46th meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

The report focuses on the future of the military cooperation deal signed in 2019 by the Government of National Accord (GNA) in Libya and Turkey.

The report comes amid debates about the legitimacy of the agreement.

These debates are viable after a new government took over in Libya and after Libyan rivals agreed to cooperate to get their country out of its current crisis.

In essence, the military cooperation agreement between the GNA and Turkey breaches previous Security Council resolutions on Libya.

The agreement also violates the recommendations of previous international conferences on the Libyan crisis.

The Maat report focuses on the illegitimate nature of the agreement. The report also focuses on the agreement from an international law perspective.

Foundation Head Ayman Oqeil referred to the controversial nature of the agreement since its signing in 2019.

It raised controversy because it did not move hand in hand with the Skirat Agreement which offered a framework for the GNA, Oqeil said of the agreement between the GNA and Turkey.

This reflects on the legitimacy of the agreement as a whole, he added.

He called on the Libyan parliament to reiterate its ejection of the military cooperation agreement between the GNA and Turkey.

Sharif al-Rifae, a researcher at the African Affairs and Sustainable Development Unit at Maat, said the agreement only sought to serve the interests of Turkey, regardless of the interests of the Libyan people.