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Sebastian Gorka is vying to become presidential special envoy to Libya, but such a position has not yet been created. Photograph: BBC

A senior White House foreign policy official has pushed a plan to partition Libya, and once drew a picture of how the country could be divided into three areas on a napkin in a meeting with a senior European diplomat, the Guardian has learned.

Sebastian Gorka, a deputy assistant to Donald Trump under pressure over his past ties with Hungarian far-right groups, suggested the idea of partition in the weeks leading up to the US presidents inauguration, according to an official with knowledge of the matter. The European diplomat responded that this would be the worst solution for Libya.

Gorka is vying for the job of presidential special envoy to Libya in a White House that has so far spent little time thinking about the country and has yet to decide whether to create such a post.

Libya has been mired in a conflict between two competing governments since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 after a Nato-led intervention. As rival jostle for influence and position in Washington on the hitherto neglected issue, sharp differences have emerged over how much say Russia should have in Libyas fate.

There are fears among some European allies that the White House will reverse the Obama administrations strong support for the UN-backed Libyan government of national accord, which is based in Tripoli and led by Fayez al-Sarraj.

While the GNA has been seen by some as the best option for achieving stability in the country, it has struggled against a rival government based in Tobruk, eastern Libya, backed by Khalifa Haftar, an anti-Islamist military strongman. Haftar, who would not back partition, has support in some parts of the Egyptian and Russian governments.

In January, he was welcomed onboard the Admiral Kuznetsov, the Russian flagship, as the aircraft carrier sailed along the north African coast. Haftar, a 73-year-old field marshal and former Gaddafi general who later became his bitter opponent, presents himself as a bulwark against Islamism and the Muslim Brotherhood, which makes him appealing to elements of the Trump foreign policy team.

Gorka advocates hardline policies aimed at defeating radical Islam and sees the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group bent on infiltrating the US. As a former Breitbart editor, he is close to Steve Bannon, Trumps chief strategist, who believes the struggle against radical Islam should be the central theme of US foreign policy. But Bannons star is on the wane in the White House and he lost his seat on the national security council last week.

Gorka has alarmed foreign diplomats with his views on Libyas future. The map he drew on a napkin during the transition period cut Libya into three sections, apparently based on the old Ottoman provinces of Cyrenaica in the east, Tripolitania in the north-west and Fezzan in the south-west.

Mattia Toaldo, a Libya expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations thinktank, said: This is like a litmus test of how much you know about Libya. If you the only thing you know is that it was cut into three, then it shows you are clueless about the situation in Libya.

Gorkas rivals for the envoy job include Pete Hoekstra, a former congressman and lobbyist, and Phillip Escaravage, a former US intelligence official who worked on Libya for more than a decade.

Escaravage is generally considered to be the clear favourite to take on the unpaid role. He is believed to have put forward a peace proposal heavily dependent on tens of billions of dollars in western financial support.

At least one European ally has privately expressed frustration at the US state departments lack of a position on Libya, voicing concerns over Russias growing influence.

While separatists who support partition claim that a viable state could be built in eastern Libya, most experts agree that the move would stoke another civil war because the boundaries would be hotly disputed.

Representatives of the Tobruk government, including Haftar, have sought to influence the Trump administration, calling for the US to radically change its position and withdraw support for the Sarraj government.

In a phone interview with the Guardian, Ari Ben-Menashe, an Israeli security consultant based in Canada, whose company has a $6m (4.9m) contract to lobby on behalf of Haftar and Aguila Saleh Issa, the head of the Libyan house of representatives in Tobruk, said the White House had been briefed on Libya and was willing to play on our terms.

There is not going to be a partition, Ben-Menashe said. None of them [Trump administration officials] really knew anything about what was going on. They were briefed pretty extensively by us and ... they understand that Sarraj will never work.

Ben-Menashe said it was understood by the Trump administration that a central Libyan government acceptable to the west and east of the country could be created in three days if Russia were more involved. The Trump administration, he added, was interested in getting the help of Russians and interested in getting them to resolve it.

Support for the eastern government was growing in parts of Europe, including the UK, Ben-Menashe said. We have talked to the Brits, the Norwegians, the Swiss. We did a lot of work on this, he added.

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Trump aide drew plan on napkin to partition Libya into three - The Guardian

Oil rose towards $56 a barrel on Monday, supported by another shutdown at Libyas largest oilfield and heightened tension over Syria following the U.S. missile strike.

Libyas Sharara oilfield was shut on Sunday after a group blocked a pipeline linking it to an oil terminal, a Libyan oil source said. The field had only just returned to production, after a week-long stoppage ending in early April.

It means that at least one potential source of additional supply has fallen away for the time being, said Carsten Fritsch of Commerzbank, referring to the Libyan outage.

Brent crude, the global benchmark, rose 68 cents to $55.92 at 1209 GMT, not far from the one-month high of $56.08 reached on Friday. U.S. crude was up 63 cents at $52.87.

Oil also climbed on heightened tension in the Middle East, a region that is home to more than a quarter of the worlds oil output. Crude rallied last week after the United States fired missiles at a Syrian government air base.

The developments in Syria should be factored in as an additional risk premium in the oil price going forward, especially now that oil inventories are drawing down and the market is no longer in massive surplus, said Bjarne Schieldrop, analyst at SEB.

He expects Brent to average $57.50 in the second quarter, which means we are likely to see $60 printed at times during this period.

Libyas Sharara field was previously shut for a week until April 2. The OPEC state has been pumping a fraction of potential output for most of the time since the 2011 civil war because of conflict and unrest.

Oil prices have also been supported by a deal led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to cut output by 1.8 million barrels per day for the first six months of 2017. Libya, and another OPEC member Nigeria, are exempt from cuts.

Last weeks rise in prices was due to the relatively high OPEC adherence to the supply cut agreement and the general belief that the deal will be extended and, secondly, because of geopolitical developments, Tamas Varga of oil broker PVM said.

However, the price rally has been limited, as oil price gains have encouraged production in other countries such as the United States, filling some of the gap left by OPEC-led cuts.

U.S. drillers added oil rigs for a 12th straight week, Baker Hughes said on Friday, as energy companies boost spending on new production.

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Oil rises on Libyan field shutdown, Syria - The Globe and Mail

The United States will stand up against anyone who commits crimes against humanity, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Monday, less than a week after Washington launched missile strikes in response to a reportedSyrian chemical attack.

"We rededicate ourselves to holding to account any and all who commit crimes against the innocents anywhere in the world," Tillerson told reporters while commemorating a German Nazi massacre committed in Italy in 1944.

The U.S. attacked the Syrian air base last Friday in retaliation forwhat it said was a chemical weapons assault on April 4 by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that killed dozens of civilians, including many children.

Tillerson is in Italy for an annual meeting for the Group of Seven major industrialized nations. Foreign ministers were expected to to seek clarityfrom the United States on an array of issues, especially Syria.

The meeting in the Tuscan walled city of Lucca, the first since Donald Trump became U.S. president, brings together Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and others.

The two-day summit comes at a moment when the United States is sending a Navy carrier strike group toward the Korean Peninsula to provide a physical presence following North Korea's persistent ballistic missile tests.

But the civil war in Syria is likely to dominate talks, with Italy hoping for a final communiqu that will reinforce United Nations' efforts to end six years of conflict.

Freeland told CBC's Power and Politics on April 7, "now it's time to push even harder for a diplomatic solution and time to apply real pressure on the Syrian regime and on its patrons, Russia and Iran, to recognize a war crime was committed this week. It's time for them to get to the table, it's time for this war to end."

"Now it's time for the international community, in particular Canada with the United States and with out G7 allies, with our NATO allies, to talk about next steps," she said.

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland is shown speaking to reporters on March 31 at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels on March 31. (Virginia Mayo/AFP/Getty Images)

The meeting will give Italy, Germany, France, Britain, Canada and Japan their first chance to grill Tillerson on whether Washington is now committed to overthrowing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.Trump had hinted he would be less interventionist than his predecessors and more willing to turn a blind eye to human rights abuses if it was in U.S. interests.

Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano, who is hosting the meeting, said Europe's broad support for the U.S. military strikes on Syria last week in retaliation for what it said was a chemical attack by Assad's forces on Syrian civilians had contributed to a "renewed harmony" between the United States and its partners.

"'We need to remember that not 10 years ago, but 100 or 120 days ago, the concern in Europe was that the United States and the EU were moving apart," Alfano told Sky TG24 Sunday. "I welcome this renewed harmony."

But the U.S. strikes likely confounded many other diplomats. There is uncertainty over whether Washington now wants Assad out, as many Europeans are pushing for, or whether the missile strikes were simply a warning shot.

The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said at the weekend that regime change in Syria was a priority for Trump, while Tillerson said on Saturday the first priority was the defeat of Islamic State.

Chrystia Freeland on Syria: 'It's time for this war to end'8:36

The mixed messages have confused and frustrated European allies, who are eager for full U.S. support for a political solution based on a transfer of power in Damascus.

"The Americans say they agree, but there's nothing to show for it behind [the scenes]. They are absent from this and are navigating aimlessly in the dark," said a senior European diplomat, who declined to be named.

Russia was kicked out of the club of industrialized nations, formerly the G8, after its 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region and assistance for pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Britain's Johnson, who had been due to visit Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Moscow ahead of Monday's G7 meeting, cancelled the trip at the last minute, saying the chemical attack had "changed the situation fundamentally."

He said that instead he would work with the United States and other G7 nations "to build co-ordinated international support for a cease-fire on the ground and an intensified political process."

Tillerson is due to travel to Russia after the G7 gathering, and Johnson said he will deliver a "clear and co-ordinated message to the Russians."

The foreign ministers' discussions will prepare the way for a leaders' summit in Sicily at the end of May.

Efforts to reach an agreement on statements and strategy ahead of time a normal part of pre-meeting G7 diplomacy has gone very slowly, partly because of a difficult transition at the U.S. state department, where many key positions remain unfilled.

Some issues, such as trade and climate change, are likely to be ducked in Tuscany.

"The more complicated subjects will be left to the leaders," said an Italian diplomat, who declined to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the press.

However, the foreign ministers will talk about Libya.

Italy is hoping for vocal support for a United Nations-backed government in Tripoli, that has struggled to exert its influence in the city, let alone in the rest of the violence-plagued north African country.

"I have to say, the Libya experiment did not go well. We are still paying the price," Alfano said, referring to the lawlessness that has ensued since the killing of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi and the subsequent flow of migrants to Europe via Italy.

The Trump administration has not yet defined a clear policy and Rome fears Washington may fall into step with Egypt, which supports general Khalifa Haftar, who operates in eastern Libya.

The struggle against terrorismm,relations with Iran and on-going instability in Ukraine will also come up for discussion.

Syrian victim describes chemical attack1:48

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US to confront those who commit 'crimes against innocents,' says Tillerson - CBC.ca

The Ras Ajdair border crossing between Libya and Tunisia is still open from both sides with normal travelling movement, according to officials working at the border from both countries.

On Sunday rumors spread on social media saying that the Tunisian part of the border had been shut disallowing travelers from getting into Tunisia or departing it to Libya in protest of the strict measures taken by the Libyan gas and fuel commission against fuel smuggling from Libya to Tunisia.

According to certain social media pages, clashes in Al-Zawiya on Sunday between armed groups affected the Ras Ajdair border crossing as well and obliged its shutdown, however, officials denied such a procedures altogether.

Nevertheless, the clashes led to the shutdown of Sharara oilfield once again disallowing oil to flow to Al-Zawiya oil refinery, which will again cause Libyan oil output to fall tremendously after an ephemeral healing.

Excerpt from:
Ras Ajdair border between Libya and Tunisia is open, officials say denying rumors - Libyan Express

Egyptian terror attack could be repeated in Libya if LNA not armed: HoR Libya Herald The House of Representatives (HoR) has again called on the UN to lift its arms embargo on Libya so that the Libyan National Army can prevent terrorist attacks being carried out in the country similar to those in Egypt today. The international community ...

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Egyptian terror attack could be repeated in Libya if LNA not armed: HoR - Libya Herald