France wants to be at the center of the diplomatic game on Libya.

French President Emmanuel Macron will therefore convene an international conference on this country on November 12, a month away from general elections supposed to end a decade of conflict, but which appear more and more hypothetical.

France calls for the maintenance of the electoral calendar and the "departure of foreign forces and mercenaries", also recalled the head of French diplomacy, Jean-Yves Le Drian, during a press conference on the sidelines of the 76th Assembly. General of the United Nations.

The French Foreign Minister and his German counterparts Heiko Maas and Italian Luigi Di Maio will also co-chair a meeting devoted to Libya on Wednesday in New York.

An unvoted electoral law

The ratification on September 9 of an electoral law, clearly tailor-made for the strongman of the East Khalifa Haftar, caused tensions to rise three months before the crucial double ballot.

Not put to a vote and signed by the head of the Parliament sitting in Tobruk (east), Aguila Saleh, an ally of Marshal Haftar, the text was greeted by a deluge of criticism from deputies and other bodies excluded from the legislative process.

The Libyan High Council of State (HCE), a body acting as a Senate, for its part on Monday proposed a postponement of at least one year of the presidential election, for lack of consensus on the electoral law.

Libyan Foreign Minister Najla al-Mangoush also did not rule out the possibility of postponing the elections at the end of August.

United States supports elections

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, displayed support of Marshal Haftar, is pressing for the holding of legislative and presidential elections as scheduled in December.

The United States also described the poll as “the best opportunity in a decade to end the conflict”.

In December, the UN also estimated at some 20,000 the number of mercenaries and foreign fighters in Libya: Russians from the private Wagner group, Chadians, Sudanese and Syrians.

Several hundred Turkish soldiers are also present in Libya under a bilateral agreement concluded with the previous government in Tripoli.

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  • Jean-Yves Le Drian

  • Libya

  • Diplomacy

  • Emmanuel Macron

  • World