Egypt brokers Libya peace roadmap, but key figures fail to meet

CAIRO: Libyan factions have tentatively agreed on an Egyptianbrokered roadmap to heal divisions, Egypt said, though the failure to engineer a meeting between two key figures has cast a shadow on the diplomatic push.

The deal comes after months of diplomatic efforts by Egypt, culminating this week with visits by Prime Minister Fayez Seraj of the UN-backed government in Tripoli, and Khalifa Haftar, a military commander supported by eastern factions.

After meeting separately with senior Egyptian military officials the two men had been set to sit together in a session late on Tuesday, then failed to meet due to last-minute differences.

Three Egyptian sources involved in the talks said that Seraj and Haftar had agreed to honour a plan to create a joint committee to negotiate reconciliation and elections by February 2018, despite lingering tensions.

Concerned about the spread of chaos from its western neighbour, Egypt has made stabilising Libya a priority and has hosted a flurry of meetings in recent months bringing together Libyan politicians from east and west.

The Tripoli-based Government of National Accord’s (GNA) leadership, the Presidential Council, is made up of nine members who are meant to represent different geographical regions and political groupings within Libya. But the UN-backed Council has been bitterly divided, with two of its number mostly boycotting proceedings, and different members regularly issuing contradictory statements. Haftar is a figurehead for factions in eastern Libya but harbours national ambitions and once fought beside long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi.

He has shunned the GNA but enjoys close ties with Egypt, which supports his tough approach to IS and other militant groups. Egypt has refrained from endorsing the GNA, with officials saying it is up to the Libyans to decide on their government. — Reuters