A senior commander in Libya's Anti-Terrorism Force has criticised the work of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL).

Mukhtar Al-Jahawi says the mission is failing to reinstate Libya's financial institutions and that letter of credit (L/C) abuse, which has been a problem for years, has not been stopped.

Institutional rebuilding

UNSMIL is a United Nations advanced mission in Libya, put in place in the aftermath of the Libyan civil war.

It is not a military mission, but a political one that aims to help Libya's National Transitional Council reinstate the rule of law and the country's key institutions.

Fierce criticism

Al-Jahawi has fiercely criticised the work of the UNSMIL and the Tripoli ceasefire articles, which were brokered by the mission's head, Ghassan Salame, with the head of Libya's Government of National Accord (GNA), Fayez Al-Sarraj.

"The reforms announced by Salame and Al-Sirraj as well as the Central Bank are wrong and not intended to reform but just a ploy to scam Libyans," Al-Jahawi said in a letter to Salame.

L/C abuse

Specifically, he accused the GNA of authorising L/Cs to individuals close to the authority, thereby causing prices of consumer goods to skyrocket amid a lack of cash at the banks.

Libyan security services have been investigating widespread L/C fraud since the country began to control the use of L/Cs to maintain its foreign currency reserves (DC World News, 11 September 2015 and 18 September 2015).

This article represents the views of the author and not necessarily those of the ICC or Coastline Solutions.