Small Wars Journal

Prospects for Libyan Resolution Fade as World Powers Meet

Sun, 01/19/2020 - 12:39pm

Prospects for Libyan Resolution Fade as World Powers Meet by Jared Malsin and Jessica Donati - Wall Street Journal

Countries supporting both sides of a civil war in Libya convened at a summit aimed at resolving the conflict, but prospects were clouded by the resumption of shelling in the capital of Tripoli, according to Libyan officials.

Senior leaders of Turkey, Russia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, along with the U.S., Italy, China and France attended Sunday’s conference. The leaders of the two main Libyan camps battling for control of the capital aren’t expected to meet with each other.

In a disappointment to some delegations, the eastern faction led by Khalifa Haftar shut down half of Libya’s oil production only a day before the conference was due to begin. It follows a failed effort in Moscow last week to convince both parties to sign a truce agreement.

The summit comes after nearly nine months of constant fighting that has plunged the North African country into one of its worst crises since the fall of former leader Moammar Gadhafi in an uprising backed by international airstrikes in 2011…

Read on.