15 – 21 January 2020: Serraj and Haftar meet international leaders in separate meetings

Jan 22, 2020 | Libyan actors

On 17 January, head of the Libyan National Army (LNA), Khalifa Haftar met with key Greek political officials in Athens ahead of the Berlin conference. Following a meeting between Haftar and Greece’s Foreign Minister, Nikos Dendias, the latter stated he had asked Haftar to “recognize the non-validity of the illegal agreements between Turkey and the (Libyan) government” adding that “the commander agreed to all those remarks”. However, Haftar and the LNA did not release statements commenting on the meeting.

On 19 January, Haftar met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron at the Chancellery in Berlin in two separate sessions. In both meetings, Haftar appears to have been accompanied by his personal escort, Bassem al-Bouaishi, and first secretary, Ayoub Bousif Furjani. Prime Minister of the Government of National Accord (GNA), Fayez al-Serraj, on the other hand, met with Merkel in the company of the GNA’s Minister of Interior, Fathi Bashaagha, and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mohammed Taher Siyala. Serraj is also noted to have met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

On 19 January, on the sidelines of the Berlin conference, Serraj and Haftar reportedly agreed to nominate five military officials each to make up a special committee to monitor the truce in Tripoli. The delegates are expected meet in the coming week in Geneva.  The UN Envoy to Libya said the core of the 5+5 commission’s tasks is to work on sending away foreign fighters from Libya as soon as possible.

On 20 January, US Ambassador to Libya, Richard Norland, met with Serraj and Haftar following the Berlin conference. According to the US Embassy to Libya, the aim of the meetings was to “gain their impression of the conference conclusions”. According to the LNA’s General Command Information Office, the two discussed the Libya crisis and the LNA’s efforts to fight against terrorism.