A leader has the ability to compromise with their adversaries, Italy's populist premier Giuseppe Conte told Libya's powerful eastern military commander Khalifa Haftar during bilateral talks in Palermo late on Monday, citing a quotation from Nelson Mandela.
"Compromise is the art of leadership and one make compromises with one's adversaries, not with one's friends," sources quoted Conte as saying to Haftar.
"A compromise is made for the good of the people," Conte was quoted as adding, a remark that Haftar agreed with, according to the sources.
Haftar's attendance at an international conference on Libya taking place in Palermo on Monday and Tuesday was seen as crucial to the event's success, but despite Italian efforts, the strongman declined.
"I would not take part in the Palermo conference, even if it lasted 100 years," Haftar told Arabic TV channel al-Hadath late Monday.
Haftar travelled to Palermo for a mini-summit on Libyan security in which Conte, Russian prime minister Dimitri Medvedev and the presidents of Egypt, Niger and Chad were also due to participate.
Haftar told al-Hadath he would be leaving Palermo immediately after the mini-summit ended on Tuesday morning.
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