By RFIPalled on 22-05-2019Modified 22-05-2019 at 20:37

Marshal Haftar was received Wednesday afternoon at the Elysee Palace by President Macron. A meeting that took place two weeks after the visit to Paris of the Prime Minister of the national unity government Fayez al-Sarraj. Objective of this meeting: to revive the political process as fighting continues in Tripoli. Ghassan Salamé, the UN envoy for Libya, said on Wednesday fearing a long and bloody war. For his part, Marshal Haftar rejected the idea of ​​a cease-fire in the immediate future.

According to the strongman of eastern Libya, the conditions for a cessation of hostilities are not met. In his eyes, forces loyal to the government of national unity are now phagocyted by armed militias. Suddenly, Marshal Haftar considers that he has no interlocutor with whom to negotiate such a cease-fire.

A position that shows that distrust is stronger than ever between the various Libyan actors. The situation therefore seems stalemated at a time when fighting is starting again south of Tripoli.

This Wednesday, Ghassan Salame said he feared the beginning of a long and bloody war. In the afternoon, facing President Macron and Jean-Yves Le Drian, Marshal Haftar tried to justify his offensive on Tripoli, explaining it by the rise of armed militias in the Libyan capital and the stalemate political discussions.

In addition to this call for a ceasefire, the French president has campaigned for a revival of the political process. A point on which Marshal Haftar has, according to the Elysee, glimpsed a semblance of hope, agreeing that such a process was indispensable and that it should be extended to representatives of the major cities of western Libya. But neither the revival of this process nor a cessation of hostilities seem to be possible in the short or medium term.

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