Libyan rivals discuss election

Libya’s two main rival leaders met for the first time in more than five months on Tuesday as Italy hosted a reconciliation conference a week after a vote was shelved for December.

Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj, whose weak but internationally recognised government is based in western Libya, met the commander who rules most of the east, Khalifa Haftar, in Palermo, Sicily.

There were no announcements of major diplomatic breakthroughs, but Serraj’s spokesperson said on Twitter the prime minister is committed to a UN road map to hold an election in the spring after a constitutional framework is put in place.

An Italian diplomat said Haftar had given his backing for Serraj to remain in office as prime minister until the election can be held. “You don’t change the horse until you cross the river,” the diplomat quoted Haftar as saying.

Despite Haftar having said he would not participate in the conference, photos released by the Italian government showed him with Serraj and Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte embracing and smiling in a three-way handshake.

Though he came to Palermo, Haftar had poured scorn on the summit, saying he was there only for bilateral meetings with regional leaders.

“I will not take part in the summit even if it takes 100 years,” he said in a television interview viewed by Reuters before it was aired.

The Libyan rivals were also pictured in a group photo with dignitaries including Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, European Council president Donald Tusk, and Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

More than seven years after Muammar Gaddafi was toppled by Western-backed rebels with Nato air support, no central authority has asserted control over Libya and armed groups control the streets.

The UN has blamed a spike in violence for its decision to drop plans to hold an election in December. It still aims for a vote in 2019, but says Libyans should first decide what sort of election they want.

Italy, the former colonial power, called the summit in a bid to bring together the country’s competing factions.

Haftar, a former officer in Gaddafi’s military, has emerged as the leader of the most powerful armed faction, having defeated Islamist militants in the east with support from Egypt and Arab states.