Libya's Haftar arrives in Athens for official talks ahead of Berlin conference

Libyas Haftar arrives in Athens for official talks ahead of Berlin conference
Date: 17.1.2020 16:00

General Khalifa Haftar, the leader of the Libyan National Army (LNA), arrived in Athens on Thursday to hold talks with Greek officials ahead of a conference in Berlin on the Libyan crisis.

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Haftar is expected to meet Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias on Friday, the newspaper said.
 
An international conference on war-torn Libya is set to take place in Berlin on January 19. Germany is seeking to bring together the main players in war-torn Libya in an attempt to reach a political solution to the conflict.
 
Greece has also asked to attend a summit in Berlin. But, Germany rejected Athens' request, Kathimerini reported on Wednesday.
 
“Greece will never accept any political solution for Libya at the European Council which does not have as a precondition the annulment of the memorandum with Turkey,”
 
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in an interview with Alpha TV on Thursday during which he complained that Greece was “wrongly” not invited to the Berlin conference which will discuss the crisis in the North African country. 
 
Libya has been split between the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) based in Tripoli and the rival House of Representatives which has been operating from the eastern city of Tobruk since 2014 and is backed by the LNA.
 
The conference follows a ceasefire called Turkey and Russia, who back opposite sides in the conflict, which took effect in Libya at midnight on January 12.
 
The Turkish-backed GNA’s Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj welcomed the ceasefire, but LNA commander Khalifa Haftar on Tuesday left a round of talks in Moscow without signing the ceasefire.

YEREL HABERLER

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