The French Embassy in Libya agreed on Tuesday to grant Colonel Jamal al-Zahawi an urgent medical visa for treatment on its territories upon the request of the General Commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA), Khalifa Haftar.
According to a statement by the LNA, Haftar phoned the French Ambassador in Libya and asked for allowing Zahawi, an LNA commander, to receive treatment in Paris after Ukraine and Germany denied him medical visa, and the ambassador agreed immediately.
Zahawi’s health has deteriorated after he suffered a stroke six months ago. In June, he traveled to Egypt for treatment, however his condition was still unstable.
In April, Haftar, 75, has also visited Paris for a two-week medical treatment.
Libya fragmented after a 2011 uprising that ended more than four decades of dictatorship under Muammar Gaddafi, and has been divided since 2014 between rival governments and military alliances based in the east and the west.
The United Nations has been leading an effort to stabilise and reunify the oil-rich nation of six million and has said it hopes to hold national elections by the end of the year.
Haftar, a former commander in Gaddafi’s army who turned against him and returned to Libya to join the 2011 uprising, has gradually extended his grip on Libya’s east and parts of the south, taking full control of Benghazi last year after a three-year military campaign.
