President of Tunisia's Constituent Assembly rejects foreign intervention in Libya

Mustapha Ben Jaafar, the president of the Constituent Assembly of Tunisia, has said that foreign intervention in Libya would only deepen the crisis in that country and called upon all parties involved in the Libyan conflict to stop the fighting and start a dialogue leading to political stability, Alamat Online news reported on Thursday.

Three years after the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi, Libya is still dominated by chaos and fighting between Islamists and other groups who are vying for power and control of the land.

Alamat Online quoted Ben Jaafar as saying that: “The only solution for the Libyan crisis has to be a Libyan-Libyan one, because any foreign intervention would only make the situation more complicated and be more be more harmful than beneficial to Libya and the region since its interests are commonly shared and interrelated.”

Ben Jaafar added that: “The crisis cannot be solved by anyone but the Libyans themselves, and our role is to bring their views closer together and provide a helpful framework. There is a trend in the Arab League towards facilitating dialogue between the conflicting parties, but first the shooting has to stop and the weapons have to be put aside. We do not have any choice but the dialogue table to reach a solution for achieving stability in Libya.”

The Tunisian political leader described the Libyan case as a regional affair, saying that: “The problem of Libya is also our problem and taking into consideration the Tunisian experience, we believe the only solution to the crisis is dialogue between Libyans.”

He added that: “We hope that stability will be achieved in neighbouring Libya in order to realise the grand Maghreb dream, which could have great economic and political benefits. It is a generational project that we hope to implement in the service of our citizens.”