Waled Ammar Ellafi, the Minister of State for Communication and Political of the Libyan Government of National Accord talks to Harici after the speech he gave in the STRATCOM event hosted by the Directorate of Communications of the Republic of Türkiye.
Ellafi talking to Esra Karahindiba, said that Libya prepares to announce a joint media platform with Türkiye, which, he says, “he believes, will be very important not only for the government but also for the journalists and for the people who work in the media sector in general.”
What do you think about Isral’s offer to expel Gazans to Sinai? This is something which can effect Libya besides Egypt in the long term.
This is a good question but to the wrong address. Libya is not part of the issue. This issue is between Egypt and Gaza and Israel. Our vision is very clear. We support the stop of this dramatical war in Gaza. We put all the effort we can with our alliance and our friends in the other countries to reach that goal.
From outside, Libya looks divided into two or even three. There is a Government of National Accord, Haftar’s side and others. What does your ministry do to solve the “divided image” of Libya in international area?
I am sure that Libya has one government. Libya is “one” governed. Of course, there are a lot of different political opinions in Libya, which is normally happening in any country. We are making all the Libyan institutions and the entity related to central government in Tripoli to work. So, we are working hard to create a good image of Libya to outside. We lead all the efforts on the soft power to send a good message from Libya that the stability is created in Libya. The developments are coming back. Libya is working.
12 years after the internal conflict started, which tangible works are you doing to bring that image? What are your strategies?
I think, comparing to two years ago, all the Libyans are feeling that something is different. In Libya, the war has stopped. After 2011, the biggest problem in Libya was electricity and it is solved now. There is no electricity cut since this year. The problem in salaries is now solved. A lot of problems which occurred in the last ten years have been solved now. There is a masterplan for the development regarding building the projects. There is a return-back. The companies are coming back to Libya. The projects are now under construction. So, everybody in Libya feels that there is something different now.
Could you bring the image of a “safe and secure Libya” back?
We hope that and we work hard to reach this goal.
In the previous year, you signed a protocol with the Directorate of Communications. How did that help to Libyan government since that time? What are the latest cooperation fields?
We have a lot of cooperation between our government and Turkish government in different fields. We work seriously with Fahrettin Altun to establish a matural platform between Libya and Türkiye. We focus on the subjects related to Libya and Türkiye and how to develop the cooperation among ourselves. We are waiting now for the next steps to announce this platform, which, I believe, will be very important not only for the government but also for the journalists and for the people who work in the media sector in general.
