Anti-Government Protests In Beirut; Libya Summit to Call for Sanctions If Ceasefire Violated; Virginia Declares State of Emergency ahead of Gun Rights Rally at State Capital
ALLEN: Welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Atlanta, GA. I'm Natalie Allen with the headlines.</s>ALLEN: World leaders are meeting in Germany this weekend. Their aim: a lasting cease-fire in war-torn Libya. U.S. secretary of state Mike Pompeo arrives Saturday for the Berlin peace conference. Libya's U.N. recognized prime minister is set to be there as well. So is his enemy, renegade general Khalifa Haftar. They are set to be joined by German chancellor Angela Merkel and the presidents of Russia, France and Turkey. What is happening in Libya is often described as a civil war. But there are plenty of foreign powers involved. CNN's Becky Anderson looks at what is driving the conflict.</s>BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST (voice-over): It had been hailed a moment of hope: the fall of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi. But nearly a decade on, this is what much of Libya looks like today, the strewn wreckage of a country splintered by conflict between two warring sides. The Government of National Accord or GNA, runs the capital and much of the country's northwest. In the east, a parallel government controlling nearly two-thirds of the country. It is led by General Khalifa Haftar and his well-armed liberal Libyan National Army or LNA. Neither side, though, is acting in isolation and battlefield Libya has many hands at work.</s>ANDERSON (voice-over): Haftar is generously backed by the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, who view political Islam as a threat and see Haftar as the country's last line of defense. They are joined by Russia and France, while the GNA sees support from Turkey, Qatar and a handful of E.U. states such as Italy. But importantly, it has the rubber stamp of U.N. legitimacy. Despite that, it only survives through outside friends of its own and mostly Turkey, who have gotten involved directly. President Erdogan recently receiving authorization from his parliament to deploy troops there.</s>RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN, PRESIDENT OF TURKEY (through translator): If Haftar's attacks against the people and legitimate government of Libya continue, we will never refrain from teaching him the lesson he deserves.</s>ANDERSON (voice-over): Being there is crucial to President Erdogan's strategic interests beyond the Middle East, burnishing his regional reputation as a power player. Haftar, though, says, is up for the fight.</s>GEN. KHALIFA HAFTAR, LIBYAN NATIONAL ARMY (through translator): We hereby except the challenge. We are announcing a mass mobilization of our troops. We call for a holy fight.</s>ANDERSON (voice-over): Meanwhile Russia has been bolstering its presence around the Mediterranean. There has been a rising number of reported Russian mercenaries, supporting Haftar's troops on the ground in Libya. Moscow claims that they do not represent the Russian state, as they have also claimed in Ukraine. But from Syria to Libya, president Vladimir Putin's expansionist strategy remains clear. The United States, on the other hand, is being more capricious. It launched airstrikes, targeting ISIS and Al Qaeda in 2015 but then pulled its troops amid the surging political violence. Its position now isn't quite clear. And in the vacuum of war, chaos: hundreds of thousands of migrants using Libya as a dangerous springboard into Europe, the continent, for the most part, calling for a political solution to the bloody conflict -- Becky Anderson, CNN, Abu Dhabi.</s>ALLEN: Grand pictures there in Libya. But world leaders are only now arriving and already we're getting a glimpse of what the final communique from this summit might say. Reuters News Service is reproductive rights that a draft calls for all parties to refrain from hostilities against oil facilities. Well, let's look at the prospects for peace in Libya and what peace there might look like with our guest, Rhiannon Smith. She's the executive director of Libya analysis; in that capacity, she regularly delivers high-level briefings on Libya to government entities and international organizations and corporations. Rhiannon, thank you for joining us. You seem like the right person to talk to right now. First of all, various countries are in Libya, putting a stake in the ground and aligning with the two different leaders. Talk with us about who is there that might be helping or hurting the conflict. I know that is a big question to tackle.</s>RHIANNON SMITH, LIBYA EXPERT: Yes, the key thing tonight here is the international sort of atmosphere and supporters of the two sides are a key element driving the conflict and the U.N. envoy to Libya, who kind of led this process and the events taking place today, the main aim of that has always been to try to curtail these international drivers to try to enforce the arms embargo in Libya, that has been in place but hasn't been enforced at all. On one side, you have countries like the UAE and Egypt supporting Haftar and his forces, providing drone and air support, which is a key factor in allowing the forces to move forward in Tripoli. And they want to see stability in Libya but on their terms so with Haftar and the sort of anti-political Islam elements in power. On the other side of the conflict on the ground, you have Turkey and they want to see the political Islam elements established but also ensure that whoever ends up in power in Libya will continue support their economic interests and contracts in the country. The interesting part then on the European side is that traditionally countries such as France and Italy have played a significant role in mediating and overseeing what's happening in Libya. But we've seen since the latest conflict started back in April that their role and the broader role of the E.U. and other countries have been undermined or subsumed and they have not been big players in this, which is why we've seen countries such as Turkey and Russia come to the fore because they are actually able to influence in some ways events on the ground.</s>ALLEN: Well, certainly, Libya has been mired in conflict since the downing and killing of Gaddafi.</s>ALLEN: We just saw that the communique has already been written, that they want everyone to support the oil facilities in Libya and leave them alone. What is most needed in the country as far as structure to help Libyans get on with a normal life and feel safe?</s>SMITH: Well, so the reason their initial statement from the Berlin conference is related to the oil installations specifically is because as of Friday night-Saturday morning, almost all of the oil ports in Libya say that is nearly 800,000 barrels of oil, which is three- quarters of Libya's oil output, has been blockaded by forces and groups aligned to the Libyan National Army. The tribal groups involved have called for more fair distribution of Libya's oil wealth and this really gets to the crucial point of how peace can be built in Libya. The main reason Haftar and his forces have launched their attack on Tripoli have been trying to take control of it is not necessarily for the land or territory itself. That is where the Central Bank of Libya and national oil corporation are based and they control all of Libya as well. Really, that is what this conflict comes down to and really has been since 2011. It's how the Libyan state divvies up the country's quite vast oil resources and there's a huge amount of corruption in the country. And a lot of militias in Tripoli influence where those funds go. And although this move has been very controversial and likely is quite a big spoiler in the leadup to this conflict, there are real grievances there and I think for any cease-fire, peace process to be successful, this economic element and this idea of who will actually be able to control Libya politically and economically going forward is crucial to any sort of longer-term stability and peace in the country.</s>ALLEN: It so often comes down to protecting the oil. We really appreciate your insights. Rhiannon Smith, thanks so much. That really helped.</s>SMITH: Thanks for having me.</s>ALLEN: For the fourth year in a row, thousands attended women's marches across the United States. Coming up, hear their latest message to the White House regarding the upcoming presidential election. Plus, how a change in U.S. federal guidelines could make school lunches much less healthy.