Italy's populist premier Giuseppe Conte, Libya's eastern military commander Khalifa Haftar and United Nations backed prime minister Fayez al-Sarraj attended a meeting in Palermo on Tuesday, Adnkronos has learned.
UN envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame, Russia's premier Dmitri Medvedev, European Union president Donald Tusk, Tunisian president Beji Caid Essebsi, Algeria's president Ahmed Ouyahia, Egypt's president Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, and France's foreign minister Yves Le Drian were also present at the meeting, sources said.
The meeting took place on the sidelines of a two-day international conference on stabilising Libya that aimed to support a new UN plan to unite the country's institutions and oversee an electoral process starting in the Spring.
Many of the turmoil-wracked oil state's main political factions are attending the Palermo conference together with key international players. In a blow to the Italian government, despite strenuous efforts to persuade him to attend, Haftar has shunned the conference, opting to take part in a mini-summit on security, bilateral and multilateral meetings being held on its sidelines.
The conference is seen as a symbol of Italy's determination to regain control of diplomatic initiatives on Libya after a failed conference in France in May and Haftar's attendance had been seen as crucial to the event's success.
