ZCZC
BFF-34
LIBYA-ITALY-UN-CONFLICT-DIPLOMACY
Libya strongman Haftar in Rome ahead of crisis talks
ROME, Oct 29, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar, whose self-
styled Libyan National Army dominates the country’s east, was in Rome Monday
for talks ahead of next month’s Sicily conference on the conflict-hit North
African nation.
Italy is trying to convince Haftar to support a crisis resolution plan
drawn up by the UN’s envoy to Libya, Ghassan Salame, which will be presented
to the Security Council a few days before the Sicily meet, Italian media
reported.
Haftar arrived in the Italian capital on Sunday and met with Prime Minister
Giuseppe Conte for a series of meetings ahead of the November 12 to 13
summit, which will be held in Palermo.
The Italian premier had also held separate meetings on Friday with the
head of Libya’s UN-backed government, Fayez al-Sarraj, and the UN’s Salame.
Libya remains mired in chaos since the fall of dictator Moamer Kadhafi in
2011.
The country is divided between the UN-backed Government of National Accord
(GNA), based in Tripoli, and a rival Haftar-supported administration in the
east.
The UN envoy was quoted by Conte’s office as saying he believes the Palermo
conference could be “a key signal of support by the international community
to the political process, which is in a particularly important phase”.
Four key leaders from Libya agreed at a conference in Paris in May to hold
landmark polls on December 10 as part of a French-led plan to stabilise the
crisis-hit country despite ongoing violence.
But France has faced opposition to the election timetable from the United
States along with other European Union countries, notably Italy.
Haftar is set to meet Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi on Monday.
BSS/AFP/RY/1645 hrs