Strongman Haftar visits Rome ahead of Sicily conference on Libya crisis

Strongman Khalifa Haftar, whose self-styled Libyan National Army dominates the country’s east, visited Rome on Monday for talks ahead of next month’s Sicily conference on the conflict-hit North African nation. Italy is reportedly trying to convince Haftar to support a crisis resolution plan drawn up by the UN’s envoy to Libya, Ghassan Salame, which will be presented to the Security Council a few days before the Sicily meeting. Haftar arrived in Rome on Sunday and met with Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte for a series of meetings ahead of the November 12-13 summit, which will be held in Palermo, AFP reported. The Italian prime minister had also held separate meetings on Friday with the head of Libya’s UN-backed government, Fayez al-Sarraj, and the UN’s Salame.