Libya PM to meet rival Haftar for talks in Cairo

It comes as forces loyal to Gen Haftar who are battling extremists in Benghazi said they had taken one of the last remaining strongholds of the militants.

ROME // The head of Libya’s unity government is planning to hold talks with a rival field marshal to try to halt the country’s descent into chaos, Italian media reported on Wednesday.

Fayez Al Sarraj, head of the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord, said he would meet in Cairo with Khalifa Haftar, whose forces support a rival administration, “possibly within days”.

"I confirm [the meeting] will take place soon," Mr Al Sarraj told Italian daily Corriere della Sera, adding that he and Gen Haftar would "search for a solution for Libya".

Libya has been riven by lawlessness and violence since the 2011, when longtime strongman Muammar Qaddafi, with rival parliaments and armed groups vying for control of the country and its vital oil wealth.

Mr Al Sarraj’s UN-backed government was installed in Tripoli last year but has struggled to assert itself further east, where a rival parliament and Gen Haftar’s self-proclaimed Libyan National Army (LNA) hold sway.

Egypt said last week it was working to organise direct talks between the leaders.

Mr Al Sarraj said the meeting would be “face to face, without mediation” but warned that the two sides remained far apart.

“To insist only on the force of arms will drag us into a bloody civil war with massacres and anarchy,” he said.

It is unclear whether the Cairo talks will also involve Russia, which has recently indicated support for Gen Haftar, who reportedly made several visits to Moscow last year.

In the second city Benghazi on Wednesday, forces loyal to Gen Haftar who are battling extremists said they had taken one of the last remaining strongholds of the militants.

Libya’s tumult has allowed extremists including the ISIL group to gain a toehold, but ISIL was forced from its stronghold of Sirte in December and Gen Haftar’s men have battled extremists for more than two years, especially around Benghazi.

Gen Haftar’s self-declared LNA “liberated all of Qanfouda”, an area 15 kilometres west of the centre of Benghazi, spokesman Ahmed Al Mesmari posted on Facebook.

Two other LNA officials confirmed that Qanfouda, the scene of fierce fighting since June, had fallen from the hands of the extremists.

One of the officials said there were still militants from the Al Qaeda-linked Ansar Al Sharia group present near Qanfouda.

Gen Haftar’s forces and rival fighters loyal to a UN-backed Tripoli-based government have inflicted a string of setbacks on the extremists.

They still control the central Benghazi districts of Al Saberi and Souq Al Hout, according to the LNA.

* Agence France-Presse