Libyan National Army (LNA) commander Khalifa Haftar will not attend the Palermo conference aimed at tackling his country’s crisis, but instead meet in Italy with various heads of state, announced his office on Tuesday.
Haftar arrived in Palermo late on Monday but did not take part in the opening dinner.
Tuesday’s announcement ended a week of speculation on whether the LNA chief will attend the two-day conference, which began on Monday and is being attended by 38 delegations, including those from the World Bank, Arab League, African Union and European Union.
Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi, European Council President Donald Tusk, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, head of the Libyan Government of National Accord Fayez al-Sarraj, parliament Speaker Aguila Saleh and several powerful tribal leaders are also present.
Sources close to Haftar told Asharq Al-Awsat that the LNA chief was receptive of Italy’s efforts to persuade him to attend the conference despite his objection to the invitation of President of the High Council of State Khalid al-Mishri, who is close to the Muslim Brotherhood. He then took the final stance not to attend the conference after being informed of the invitation representatives from Qatar and extremist groups.
Other sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Haftar had held a secret meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte at his Rajma headquarters in Libya in a last-ditch effort to convince him to attend the conference.
The conference is being held in wake of UN envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame’s statement last week that presidential and parliamentary elections will not be held in the country before the end of the year. The UN was hoping for such a goal, but political and security chaos has thwarted this mission.
Salame instead told Reuters Monday that he was hoping for the polls to be held in June 2019. The Libyans must first hold a national conference that brings together all parties in order to agree on the form of the elections.
Prior to the Palermo meeting getting underway, the LNA submitted demands through a civil envoy to the gatherers. The LNA demanded the establishment of a program to compensate Benghazi victims of the war on terror. It also called for opening an investigation in Central Bank funding. It called for the fair distribution of oil resources on all Libyan regions, as well as devising a mechanism to monitor frozen Libyan assets in foreign accounts.
Monday’s proceedings in Palermo witnessed the meetings of various technical committees that discussed economic and financial reforms. They also addressed the restructuring of security and armed forces ahead of unifying the military.
Asharq Al-Awsat was witness to criticism directed by Libyan representative towards Italy for its poor organization of the conference. One of the most glaring errors, they said, was the absence of the Libyan flag alongside the Italian one at the conference hall.
Other critics said that Rome had invited too may guests and that it did not take into consideration the balance of power on the ground in Libya, as well as the severe tensions between various figures, which may lead to the conference’s failure.
Others noted how the conference was being exploited by Italian officials, particularly Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, to direct criticism against France.
