LibyaPolitics

Palermo Conference will not make major difference: MP Afhima

An international conference on the Libyan crisis will kick off Monday in Palermo, Italy bringing together the main sides of the internal conflict, in another attempt to unify national institutions and form a new government in a prelude to hold presidential and parliamentary elections that are supposed to put an end to the chaos in the country.

Saleh Afhima, a member of the Libyan House of Representatives (HoR), said the Palermo Conference will not make a major difference in settling the Libyan crisis, and its results will not be better than the outcome of the previous Paris Agreement.

In a statement to the Russian news agency Sputnik on Saturday, Afhima anticipated that the conference will not achieve any positive results unless the concerned parties and countries ceased their interference in Libya’s internal affairs to achieve their interests at the expense of the Libyan people.

He pointed out that UN envoy Ghassan Salame has voiced his support to the HoR and High Council of State’s (HCS) call to unify Libyan institutions and restructure the Presidency Council, in a bid to form a strong government capable of holding elections and achieving stability.

Since Muammar Gaddafi’s ouster, Libya has spiraled into civil war between several parties competing for the power causing divisions inside the national army.

There have been two major factions on the ground since 2014; one led by Khalifa Haftar, commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA), who now controls the eastern side of Libya in cooperation with the Tobruk parliament. The other is led by Faiez Sarraj, head of the Presidency Council and Government of National Accord (GNA), in Tripoli.

Meanwhile, the Islamic State (IS) and other terrorist groups took advantage of the conflict and established a foothold in the country, posing threats to Libya’s neighbors.

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