Italy to host conference on Libya

Brussels, July 12 (IANS/AKI) Italy is organising a conference on turmoil-wracked Libya this autumn, populist Premier Giuseppe Conte said on Wednesday at a Nato summit in Brussels.

"We are organising a conference in the autumn on Libya to follow up on the Paris conference," Conte said, referring to a major international peace conference on the oil-rich African country held in Paris in late May.

"The aim is involve all the actors and countries that can make a contribution in any way - also the US," Conte said.

At the conference in Paris on May 29, the leaders of Libya's four key factions agreed to hold presidential and parliamentary elections on December 10 and to establish the constitutional basis for elections and adopt the required electoral laws by September 16.

The four leaders included Premier Fayez al-Sarraj, head of the UN-backed unity government in Tripoli, 75-year-old military strongman Khalifa Haftar, whose Libyan National Army militia dominates the country's east, the Tobruk-based parliament speaker Aguila Saleh; and the head of Libya's Council of State advisory body, Khaled al-Mishri.

The four men, who represent a large chunk of Libya's rival factions, also agreed to "accept the results of elections, and ensure appropriate funds and strong security arrangements are in place".

--IANS/AKI

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