Safiye Karabacak
13 February 2020•Update: 13 February 2020
TRIPOLI, Libya
French President Emmanuel Macron sent an official invitation Wednesday to renegade Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar to visit France.
According to a statement from Haftar's press office, Haftar met with Christophe Farno, director of the Middle East and North Africa Department at the French Foreign Ministry, in the eastern city of Benghazi.
Farno conveyed the invitation to Haftar during the meeting.
He also conveyed an invitation from French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner to his counterpart in Libya’s UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA), Fathi Bashagha, to visit Paris.
While meeting Wednesday with Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio in Tripoli, Libya’s Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj called on the international community to ensure that the decisions reached at last month’s conference in Berlin on Libya are adhered to.
Haftar agreed at the conference on Jan. 19 to designate individuals to a UN-proposed military commission with five members from each side to monitor implementation of a ceasefire.
Despite the conference’s call for a permanent ceasefire in the war-torn country, Haftar’s forces have continued their attacks.
Since the ouster of late ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, two seats of power have emerged in Libya: one in eastern Libya supported mainly by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, and the other in Tripoli, which enjoys UN and international recognition.
Libya’s legitimate government has been under attack by Haftar’s forces since last April, claiming the lives of more than 1,000 people.
*Writing by Davut Demircan
