LIBYA’S POLITICAL RIVALS SHAKE ON UN ELECTION PLAN AT ITALIAN CONFERENCE
▶ Agreement could kick-start stalled political process but doubts linger after Turkish team abruptly quits summit
Libya’s political leaders yesterday committed to a UNled process that could lead to elections in the North African country by June next year.
Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, whose forces control eastern Libya, and his political rival, Prime Minister Fayez Al Sarraj, head of the government in Tripoli, both backed the UN plan at an international meeting in Italy.
The commitment is a major diplomatic breakthrough that could kick-start a stalled political process and trigger elections after nearly eight years of strife.
“Haftar is committed to the political process,” UN special envoy Ghassan Salame said at the end of the conference in Palermo yesterday.
Mr Al Sarraj’s spokesman tweeted that the prime minister was also committed to the UN plan, which Mr Salame first announced last week after scrapping an earlier road map agreed upon in Paris in May that had called for elections to be held in December.
Yesterday’s result came after Field Marshal Haftar and Mr Al Sarraj held a rare meeting at the summit – their first in more than five months.
During talks, Field Marshal Haftar said that he would be happy if Mr Al Sarraj were to hold on to power until the elections were organised, an Italian diplomatic source told The National.
“We don’t have to change the horse midstream,” the head of the east Libyan faction said, referring to the divided country’s need to reach an election date unscathed.
This indicates that Field Marshal Haftar is also likely to retain his position as head of the Libyan National Army.
The two leaders talked “a lot, alone” after the meeting Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, the Italian source said.
Mr Conte shared photos of the meeting on Twitter, showing Field Marshal Haftar and Mr Al Sarraj smiling alongside Egypt’s leader Abdel Fattah El Sisi, European Council President Donald Tusk, Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi and Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev, among other leaders.
In one photo, the pair appear to be sharing an embrace with the Italian prime minister.
The meeting was not welcomed by Turkey’s delegation to Palermo, which pulled out of the conference, saying it was “deeply disappointed” at being left out.
After the meeting, Mr Salame told the delegations that Libyans should be in control of the peace process and the next step should be a meeting on Libyan soil.
“There are no military but only political solutions, and Libyans have to find them. Delaying the political solution only negatively impacts current and future Libyan generations,” he said.
The representatives of two other important Libyan factions were also present. Ageela Saleh, leader of the Libyan House of Representatives, and Khaled Al Meshri, head of the State Council, an advisory body to Mr Al Sarraj’s Government of National Accord, also met Mr Conte and Mr Salame, who shuttled between the different delegations.
Frederic Wehrey, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace think tank, said that “Italy has certainly achieved a good photo op”. However, Rome still lacks the clout to forge a real international, regional and Libyan consensus, he told The National.
“The abrupt departure of Turkey, an important player in Libya, demonstrates this, as does a French foreign ministry statement which barely disguises the rivalry with Italy and tries to portray the Palermo meeting as a continuation of the Paris summit,” he said.
Italy has been trying to reassert control over the Libyan peace process since French President Emmanuel Macron convened a surprise summit in Paris in May to push for Libyan elections on December 10.
The summit in Palermo was largely read by analysts as an attempt by Rome to regain diplomatic leadership over the Libyan issue.
Although Field Marshal Haftar met Mr Al Sarraj, he poured scorn on the summit. “I will not take part in the summit even if it takes 100 years,” he told Libyan television.
The army chief said he had come to Italy only to meet neighbouring leaders.
The summit in Palermo was largely read by analysts as an attempt by Rome to regain leadership over the Libyan issue