Eastern military commander Khalifa Haftar is expected to arrive in Palermo late on Monday to take part in a mini-summit of Libya's taking place on the sidelines of an international conference on stabilising Libya, Adnkronos has learned.
Italy's prime minister Giuseppe Conte will chair the mini-summit which is also being attended by Egypt's president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, by Russian premier Dimitri Medvedev and the presidents of Chad, Niger and Tunisia.
A website close to Haftar, 'The Address', cited sources as saying he would not take part in the main conference in Palermo, in which many of Libya's other main political factions are taking part, together with key international players.
Haftar's participation is seen as crucial to the conference's success and Italian efforts to make him reconsider are ongoing, according to sources.
The international conference kicks off on Monday evening when there will be a working dinner. The plenary session attended by heads of delegations will take place on Tuesday, followed by the meeting conclusions and a press conference given by Conte, according to a programme on the Italian government's website.
