16th January, 2020
French President Emmanuel Macron will attend a Libyan peace conference called by Germany in Berlin on Sunday, a source in the Elysee Palace says.
Macron spoke to German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, on Thursday ahead of the talks, which are intended to bring eastern Libyan military strongman, Khalifa Haftar, together with Fayez al-Serraj, the prime minister of a weak UN-backed government based in the capital Tripoli.
Macron has held two previous peace summits with the rival leaders in France, without lasting success, while Italy and most recently Russia have also tried to bring the warring parties together.
France’s relations with Serraj’s Government of National Accord (GNA) have declined over the past year after Paris backed an offensive by Haftar in southern Libya.
France denies, however, GNA allegations that it supported the offensive on Tripoli launched by Haftar in April.