French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to hold an extended summit at the end of May in Paris to include all Libyan sides and international partners, French diplomatic sources told Asharq Al-Awsat.
Libyan and French sources with knowledge of the matter said that the French authorities received official approval from Marshall Khalifa Haftar, the commander-in-chief of the Libyan National Army (LNA), and Aguila Saleh, Speaker of the Libyan Parliament, as well as Prime Minister of the National Accord Government Fayez al-Sarraj, to attend the summit, which is expected to be held on May 29.
The sources added that the objective of the upcoming Paris meeting was to reach a new power-sharing agreement.
In a diplomatic note sent to a number of countries, namely the UN Security Council permanent member states, in addition to Italy, Turkey, the UAE and Qatar, and countries neighboring Libya, France said Macron would hold the meeting “very soon” in the French capital.
However, Libyan sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Haftar has expressed his reservations about the Qatari and Turkish roles in the Libyan crisis, as he has accused the two states of supporting terrorist groups in his country.
The French note said that the goal of the summit was “to reach an agreement between the Libyan parties, under the auspices of the United Nations Special Envoy, in order to adopt the arrangements for holding elections as soon as possible this year.”
On the other hand, Italian press reported complaints and resentment over the marginalization of the role of Rome in the French initiative, while a senior Libyan official told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Italian resentment is not separate from the US reservations.
Egyptian sources said that Cairo was aware of the French arrangements in advance, pointing out that the Egyptian official position was always to encourage any positive initiatives, which would resolve the current situation in Libya and end the crisis there.
