BENGHAZI: Eastern Libyan military commander Khalifa Haftar, whose forces control parts of the country, said on Sunday he would listen to the “will of free Libyan people,” in the strongest indication so far that he might run in elections expected next year.

Haftar styles himself as a strongman capable of ending the chaos that has gripped Libya since the overthrow of Muammar Qadhafi in 2011.

“We declare clearly and unequivocally our full compliance with the orders of the free Libyan people, which is its own guardian and the master of its land,” Haftar said in a speech.

He spoke in the eastern city of Benghazi, from where his forces managed to expel hardliner militants during a three-year battle.

Haftar, a general from the Qadhafi era, also dismissed a series of UN-led talks to bridge differences between Libya’s two rival administrations, one linked to him in the east and one backed by the United Nations in the capital Tripoli.

“All the dialogues starting from Ghadames and ending in Tunis and going through Geneva and Skhirat (in Morocco) were just ink on paper,” he said, listing host cities of UN talks.

Haftar insisted on Sunday that the mandate of the country’s UN-backed government has run out after what he said was the expiration of a tattered 2015 political deal.

The UN-brokered agreement signed in Morocco on Dec.17, 2015 established Libya’s Government of National Accord (GNA) for a one-year period, renewable only once.

Despite that deal, Libya has remained divided between the GNA government in Tripoli led by Prime Minister Fayez Al Sarraj and a rival administration backed by Haftar in the east.

In a televised speech Haftar, who has never recognised the GNA’s authority, said the “expiry of the Libyan political accord” marked a “historic and dangerous turning point.”

“All bodies resulting from this agreement automatically lose their legitimacy, which has been contested from the first day they took office,” he said.

The United Nations Security Council on Thursday insisted the 2015 deal remains the “only viable framework” to prepare for elections next year.

Agencies