Libya peace summit struggles

COUNTRIES struggled at an international peace summit for Libya yesterday to draw eastern military commander Khalifa Haftar back into diplomacy, days after he quit talks and more than half of Libya’s oil output was shut down in areas he controls.

Haftar, whose forces are bearing down on the capital Tripoli with the backing of Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Russian mercenaries and African troops, was expected to attend the one-day summit despite having abandoned talks last week.

Turkey has rushed troops to Tripoli to help an internationally recognised government resist Haftar’s assault. Up to 2 000 Turkish-backed fighters from Syria’s civil war have also joined the battle, a UN official said.

Haftar quit a Turkish-Russian summit a week ago and escalated the conflict on Friday when eastern oil ports were shut down. The National Oil Corporation (NOC) said the shutdown was directly ordered by Haftar’s forces and would cut oil production by 800 000 barrels a day. That would potentially hit Tripoli hard, as oil revenues pass through the capital. Southern fields that are under Haftar’s control also face a threat of closure.

“We call on all parties concerned to redouble their efforts for a sustained suspension of hostilities, de-escalation and a permanent ceasefire,” said a draft of a communiqué to be discussed at the summit.

Libya has had no stable central authority since Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown in 2011. For more than five years it has had two rival governments in the east and the west, with streets controlled by armed groups.

Haftar, the east’s most powerful figure, has won backing from a range of foreign allies for an assault to capture Tripoli in the west, while Turkish support for Tripoli’s effort to repel him has turned the conflict into a proxy war. More than 150 000 people have been displaced.

The communiqué calls on all parties to recognise the NOC as the sole entity authorised to sell Libyan crude, and urges them to refrain from attacking oil facilities.