Libya’s key political players including strongman Khalifa Haftar met with global leaders in Italy yesterday in the latest bid by major powers to kickstart a long-stalled political process and trigger elections.
A summit in Paris in May had seen the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) and eastern Libya strongman Haftar agree to hold national polls on December 10, but that date has fallen by the wayside.
Acknowledging the chaotic political situation since dictator Muammar Gaddafi was deposed in 2011, the United Nations on Thursday conceded elections will not be viable before at least the spring of 2019.
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte welcomed Haftar in the Sicilian capital Palermo after days of doubts over his crucial presence.
Haftar decided not to attend a working dinner at the Villa Igiea venue but was expected to return for bilateral talks with Conte later in the evening.
Roundtable talks are set for today morning.
“Haftar already succeeding in making the Palermo Conference about the importance of his role in any potential agreement in Libya going forward and reinforcing his position as the key actor in the Libyan crisis,” said Mohamed ElJarh, CEO of research and consulting firm Libya Outlook.
Analysts say the Sicily summit risks being compromised not only by tensions between Libyan factions, but also the competing agendas of foreign powers.
Just as in May, the key Libyan invitees are Haftar, the eastern parliament’s speaker Aguila Salah, GNA head Fayez al-Sarraj and Khaled al-Mechri, speaker of a Tripoli-based upper chamber.
In an interview with AFP, Sarraj urged the international community on Thursday to find a “common vision” for the future of the chaos-hit North African nation.
The GNA says it will use the Palermo talks to lobby for security reforms that unify the army, a constitutionally rooted electoral process, economic reform and an end to “parallel institutions”.
The US, Arab countries and European nations are all sending representatives to the talks today. For Rome’s populist government, a top priority is stemming the flow of migrants who exploit Libya’s security vacuum in their quest to reach European shores, often via Italy.
“The Palermo conference is a fundamental step in the goal of stabilising Libya and for the security of the entire Mediterranean,” Conte said last week.
UN envoy Ghassan Salame told the Security Council on Thursday that a national conference in early 2019 would be organised to provide “a platform” for Libyans to spell out their vision for the future.



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