Before the Berlin conference, Haftar is on a surprise visit to Greece

As preparations continue for the Berlin conference on the Libyan crisis, retired Libyan Major General Khalifa Haftar will hold talks in the Greek capital, Athens, which he arrived on a surprise visit.

Haftar agreed on Thursday "in principle" to participate in the Berlin conference, after the head of the internationally recognized Libyan Accord government, Fayez al-Sarraj, announced that he would participate in the conference.

In a surprise move, Haftar arrived in Athens yesterday with a private plane, for meetings that had not been previously announced.

Haftar went to a luxury hotel in Athens, where he met with Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias for a first round of talks, as shown on TV footage.

He is expected to hold further talks on Friday with Dendias before a meeting with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, sources close to the negotiations told Agence France-Presse.

Greek role
Greece is seeking to play a bigger role in Libya, after the Al-Wefaq government signed a memorandum of understanding with Turkey last November, granting it rights to excavations in large areas of the eastern Mediterranean, which are claimed by Greece and Cyprus.

Athens worked to strengthen its ties with Haftar, who met the Greek foreign minister last month in Benghazi.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said yesterday that excluding Greece from the Berlin conference was "a mistake", indicating that he would discuss the matter with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Mitsotakis warned that Greece would refuse within the European Union any peace agreement in Libya, if the agreements between Ankara and the reconciliation government were not canceled.

"I told my European counterparts that Greece will never accept a political solution during a European summit that does not cancel the memorandum of understanding," he told Alpha TV.

Last Sunday, a ceasefire was announced between the forces of the internationally recognized Libyan Al-Wefaq government and the forces of General Khalifa Haftar on the basis of a Turkish-Russian initiative, but intermittent clashes took place later.

Haftar participated in talks held in Moscow a few days ago under the Russian-Turkish auspices, but he left without signing a binding armistice agreement signed by the reconciliation government.

Haftar forces - which has Emirati, Egyptian and Russian support - have been attacking the capital, Tripoli, since April 2018.

Russia excludes "direct communication"
On the other hand, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the Libyan parties are still committed to the ceasefire, but he saw that Haftar and Al-Sarraj are not yet ready to communicate directly.

Lavrov noted - at the annual press conference of the Russian Foreign Ministry today - that the document of the cease-fire agreement signed by Al-Sarraj in Moscow was balanced.

The Russian minister said that the intervention of NATO in Libya destroyed the Libyan state.

In the same context, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said that Russia and Turkey are working hard to implement the understandings reached by the two countries on Libya.

Ryabkov expressed his regret for "Washington's refusal to cooperate in the Libyan issue," and said that Moscow does not see a willingness on the American side to accept its logic and the proposed solutions.

Pompeo to Berlin
For its part, the US State Department said that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will participate in the Berlin conference, and US officials confirmed that Washington will work to stabilize the ceasefire and pressure the external forces to withdraw from the Libyan conflict.

Berlin will host next Sunday a summit that includes the parties to the Libyan conflict and the external forces supporting them in an attempt to end the attack on Tripoli and resume peace talks on the power-sharing agreement.

Yesterday, German Foreign Minister Haikou Mas visited the city of Benghazi - one of Khalifa Hifter's strongholds - to persuade him to join the conference.

Mass wrote on Twitter that Hifter "wants to contribute to the success of the Berlin Conference on Libya, and he is ready in principle to participate." He added that Haftar "agreed to abide by the ceasefire."

However, al-Sarraj questioned the intentions of the other side, saying that Haftar "chose not to sign the agreement (in Moscow) and asked for postponement." Considering this, "an effort to undermine the Berlin conference before it begins."