Merkel calls for an international conference Sunday on the Libyan crisis

German Chancellor Angela Merkel called today to hold an expanded international summit on the Libyan crisis next Sunday in Berlin, with the participation of the President of the Presidency Council of the Libyan Accord Government, Fayez al-Sarraj, and retired Major General Khalifa Hifter, while Russia said that Moscow's consultations to conclude a cease-fire agreement between the forces of the Accord government and the forces of Hifter will be resumed.

The German Chancellor's office said in a statement that the Berlin Summit will support the United Nations efforts to achieve a sovereign state in Libya, and support reconciliation between the Libyan parties, and Berlin invited the parties to the conflict (the internationally recognized reconciliation government and the Tobruk government of Haftar) to participate in the summit.

Merkel also invited Algeria for the first time, and the United States, Russia, Britain, France, China, Turkey, the Emirates, Italy and Egypt will participate in the conference, noting that representation in the Berlin conference will be at the level of leaders and prime ministers.

According to Merkel's office, the Arab League, the African Union and the United Nations will also participate in the conference.

Foreign interference
The French Press Agency stated that the first goal of the Berlin conference will be to prevent any foreign country from interfering in the Libyan internal affairs, especially in terms of military support. .

The German minister added that this ban "constitutes the necessary condition for there to be no military solution in Libya, but a political solution."

In a related context, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that Moscow's consultations to conclude an agreement to stop hostilities in Libya will be resumed, adding that the scale of the accumulated Libyan problems requires a lot of work to formulate balanced and mutually acceptable solutions.

Hifter's position
The ministry said in a statement that the position of retired Major General Khalifa Hifter on the agreement was positive, and that he asked for two days to discuss its details with his allies, after he left Moscow today without signing the draft agreement signed by the reconciliation government.

The Russian Foreign Ministry added that the main result of the meeting that took place in Moscow yesterday was the Libyan parties agreeing to maintain the ceasefire and continue indefinitely, which will provide a more favorable atmosphere for holding the Berlin conference, according to the ministry statement.

Today, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stressed the need to encourage all Libyan parties to agree rather than settle matters by force, and Lavrov added in a press conference after his talks with his Sri Lankan counterpart, that all efforts by the Europeans, Russia and Libya's neighbors are aimed at motivating the Libyan parties to agree.

It is noteworthy that since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi's regime in late 2011, Libya has entered political and military conflicts that have evolved into a power and legitimacy conflict between the internationally recognized government of Tripoli and the government of Tobruk of retired Major General Khalifa Hifter, and the conflict has worsened since Hifter's forces launched in early April / April 2019 A massive attack on Tripoli with the aim of controlling it, after having forcibly laid its hands on the east of the country and large areas of its south.