France to host international conference on Libya on November 12

Published on : 09/21/2021 – 10:17

French President Emmanuel Macron will convene an international conference on Libya on November 12, a month away from general elections supposed to end a decade of conflict in that country, but which appear increasingly hypothetical.

“In view of the elections in December, France will organize around the President of the Republic an international conference on Libya on November 12,” announced the head of French diplomacy, Jean-Yves Le Drian, during a press conference on the sidelines of the 76^e UN General Assembly.

The French Foreign Minister and his German counterparts Heiko Maas and Italian Luigi Di Maio will also co-chair a meeting devoted to Libya on Wednesday in New York.

France is asking for the electoral calendar to be maintained and for the “departure of foreign forces and mercenaries”, recalled Jean-Yves Le Drian.

The ratification on 9 September of an electoral law – clearly tailored to the strongman of the east, Khalifa Haftar – has raised tensions three months before the crucial double ballot.

The elections, “the best opportunity to end the conflict”

Not put to a vote and signed by the head of the Parliament sitting in Tobruk (east), Aguila Saleh, an ally of Marshal Haftar, the text was greeted by a deluge of criticism from deputies and other bodies excluded from the legislative process.

The Libyan High Council of State (HCE), a body acting as a Senate, for its part on Monday proposed a postponement of at least one year of the presidential election, for lack of consensus on the electoral law.

Libyan Foreign Minister Najla al-Mangoush also did not rule out the possibility of postponing the elections at the end of August.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, displayed support of Marshal Haftar, is pressing for the holding of legislative and presidential elections as scheduled in December.

The United States also called the poll “the best opportunity in a decade to end the conflict”.

In December, the UN estimated the number of mercenaries and foreign fighters in Libya at some 20,000: Russians from the private Wagner group, Chadians, Sudanese and even Syrians.

Several hundred Turkish soldiers are also present in Libya under a bilateral agreement concluded with the previous government in Tripoli.

With AFP