Lebanese president calls in army to restore calm in Beirut
AHEAD OF BERLIN MEETING TODAY, UNITED NATIONS CALLS FOR AN END TO ‘FOREIGN INTERFERENCE’
For more than eight years, the Libyan conflict has festered, and the European Union has mostly looked away. Libya mattered, if at all, as a playground for terrorism and a source of the migrants disrupting European politics.
But with the recent involvement of Russia and Turkey on opposite sides of a nasty civil war, adding to the meddling of other neighbours, Europe has suddenly woken to the implications of a new Great Game, this time in North Africa, that is rapidly destabilising its backyard. Belatedly, the Continent is paying attention.
Today, after months of effort, Germany and the United Nations will gather most of the main actors to try to at least bring a sustained halt to the fighting and get outside powers to give Libyans the space to attempt to find some kind of political reconciliation. “All foreign interference can provide some aspirin effect in the short term, but Libya needs all foreign interference to stop. That’s one of the objectives of this conference,” Gassan Salame said in an interview ahead of the Berlin summit.
Intensify the jockeying
Reconciliation will not be easy, as potential oil-and-gas bonanzas intensify the jockeying. Increasingly, the fate of Libya’s precarious internationally backed government hangs in the balance.
“There has been a major reawakening of geopolitical interest in Libya,” said Ian Lesser, director of the Brussels office of
The UAE has said it “unreservedly” supports a conference due today in Berlin with the aim of halting a years-long conflict in Libya.
“Looking forward to a successful Berlin Conference in our joint efforts towards an end to the conflict in Libya,” Dr Anwar Gargash, the UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, said in a tweet.
“The UAE unreservedly supports German efforts in convening the conference & the international community’s goals of peace & stability in Libya,” he added. the German Marshall Fund and an expert on Turkey and the Mediterranean.
“That begins with issues of migration, energy, security and counterterrorism,” he added. “But it is just as much about the geopolitics of relations with Russia and Turkey. If they had not been so assertive, Libya would not have attracted such attention now.”
On one side, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, France and now Russia support Khalifa Haftar, whose forces have laid siege to Tripoli, the capital, threatening the internationally backed government there.
On the other, Qatar, Italy and now Turkey support the Government of National Accord. Created by a 2015 UN-sponsored political deal, the government is led by Prime Minister Fayez Al Sarraj.