The North Africa Journal | Nov 15, 2018: [Photo: Gen. Haftar gets rock star reception] — By organizing the Palermo conference, Italy sought to take the lead over France in proposing new steps to solve the Libyan crisis. The rivalry of France and Italy on the Libyan crisis has been known for a long time, with Paris pushing for a December 2018 election in Libya, and Italy clearly siding against the idea. Italy’s primary concern is the problem of the tens of thousands of migrants coming from Libya and into the Italian shores.
With the Palermo conference, Rome sought to show that it had the influence to bring the feuding parties and it did so. Some 30 countries dispatched representatives, and for a brief moment, there was fear that General Haftar would not show up. Eventually he did, even though he took a rather low-key approach to the event, highlighting the challenges facing Rome in convincing the protagonists that they must find a solution soon. At the end of the conference, nothing was achieved, except that the participants to the meeting seem to agreed to meet again early next year.
For Italy and the UN Secretary-General representative for Libya Ghassan Salamé , the conference was a warm and constructive event. Turkey, however, didn’t see it this way and stormed out of the conference, insisting that it did not like foreign interference in Libyan affairs. But we all know that Turkey is also deeply involved in the drama enfolding in the North African country, so there is no credibility to Turkish officials claims of non-involvement in Libyan affairs.
But the biggest scare for the Italians was the possibility that Marshal Haftar would not make it. He managed to show up, although he did not take part to in the plenary. Instead he attended a private meeting at which Fayez al-Sarraj, the head of the Government of National Accord (GNA), was present. So what did this conference achieve? Firstly, there is a deal to meet again. The UN’s Ghassan Salamé said the participants agreed to hold a national conference sometime in January 2019. And so to the chagrin of Paris, there will be no election this year. When will they happen? No one knows, except that the UN envoys spoke of reassessing the election process some time in spring.
While the conference as a whole led to nothing, sources say there have been backroom deals at the bilateral level. Seeking to salvage the image of Italy in the aftermath of this conference, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte insisted that the conference did not seek to offer solutions to the Libyan crisis. He noted that peace and stability in Libya “should be left to the Libya.”
Good conclusion expect that this will never happen. No one in the international community appears willing to let the Libyans handle their own affairs. Everyone has their hands in the pot, starting with Egypt, France, and probably most of the Gulf countries, many supporting Haftar by sending weapons and “technical advisers.” Turkey too is busy looking after the interests of its Islamist friends, competing directly with Egypt. Everyone else is there to ensure their interests come first, by helping one group today, and another group tomorrow. In addition, Islamic State in Libya has not been defeated at all. It has moved from the northern regions, largely as a result of its inability to face the military superiority of its foes, but it has relocated in the southern regions where it has begun an asymmetric warfare, using the expertise of the foreign fighters who relocated from Syria.
At the end, the crisis in Libya is not likely to see a speedy resolution, despite the Libyan people being fed up with the civil war perpetuated by a completely neglectful international community.
