Libya military chief to shun peace talks
Haftar unhappy that Qatar and Al Qaeda-linked groups will attend
Libyan military commander Khalifa Haftar may not attend a peace conference in Italy today, undermining the latest attempt by the international community to settle almost nine years of strife.
Sources from Field Marshal Haftar’s Libyan National Army, which controls eastern parts of the country, told the Italian news agency Ansa that he would boycott the international conference in the Sicilian capital of Palermo.
While Rome claimed that he would attend, there were rumours that Italian prime Minister Giuseppe Conte travelled to Libya to convince him to show up.
An official in the army told
that the head of Italian intelligence met Field Marshal Haftar on Saturday to try to guarantee his attendance but failed.
The army official further said he was not aware that Mr Conte was in Libya but it was unlikely the commander would go to Palermo.
The sources said that Field Marshal Haftar would boycott the summit in protest against the attendance of representatives from Qatar, which his army has accused of sponsoring terrorism in oil-producing areas of the country.
They said he was also opposed to the presence of Al Qaeda-linked groups, without naming a delegation.
Libya has endured a leadership vacuum since the 2011 revolution that led to the overthrow of Muammar Qaddafi. Militias, a UN-backed government, the remnants of the General National Congress and Field Marshal Haftar are just some of those vying for control.
With violence, corruption and a huge refugee population passing through on the way to Europe, Libya’s problems need lasting political solutions.
Today’s summit, organised in collaboration with the UN support mission in Libya, raised hopes of progress towards peace and stability.
“The goal of the event is to provide a tangible contribution to the stabilisation process of the country, in full agreement with the main Libyan political actors,” the Italian government said.
With a slick social media presence and a dedicated hashtag, #ForLibyaWithLibya, the Italian government’s PR team is set to go, but whether meaningful progress will be made is another question.
In May, Field Marshal Haftar and three other top Libyan leaders agreed in Paris to hold parliamentary elections next month.
The other three leaders – Fayez Serraj, the head of the UN-backed Government of National Accord in Tripoli; Agila Saleh, leader of the Libyan House of Representatives; and Khaled Meshri, head of the State Council, an advisory body to the Tripoli government– have confirmed they will attend the Palermo conference.
It was not yet clear what other Libyan figures would attend but there has been anger that some Qaddafi-era officials were invited, including Abdel Rahman Shalgam, who served as foreign minister from 2000 to 2009.
Of the non-Libyan players at the meeting, the most important are Italy, the host and former colonial ruler, and France. The two countries have been in a dispute over a solution to the conflict.
If they can end their competition for influence over the country and join UN special envoy Ghassan Salame and other nations in encouraging Libyan figures to find a solution, the Sicily talks may bear fruit.
Italian hopes for a successful outcome from the talks received a boost from reports last week that the French push for presidential elections next month had been shelved, making way for Italy’s preferred slow and steady approach, which favours security over rushed elections.
Security is high on the agenda for the Libyans attending and the international community, after fighting between rival militias in Tripoli in August that killed 117, displaced thousands and prompted the UNbacked government to declare a state of emergency.
A ceasefire was agreed to on September 5.
While some may have high hopes for the two-day Palermo conference, it is just the latest in many initiatives that have sought to bridge the gaps between Libya’s many factions, and observers hold little hope that it might achieve tangible benefits.
“As of today, it doesn’t look like it could produce a different result from the other summits,” said Karim Mezran, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Rafiq Hariri Centre for the Middle East.
Although the invitation list contained some big international names, it would be surprising if leaders such as Russian President Vladimir Putin or US leader Donald Trump turned up.