Germany stepping into the Libyan field yet again

Mustafa Kamel

Germany is stepping into the Libyan arena, in its bid to bring rival Libyan parties together and find a political solution to the crisis of the North African state.

Berlin will host a virtual conference on Libya with the aim of strengthening the ceasefire. However, the new German effort is made amid fears of failure.

The Berlin conference will also aim at renewing the commitment of Libyan parties to the recommendations of the international conference on Libya in Berlin as well in January this year.

Before square one

The countries that attended the Berlin conference on Libya in January will also attend the virtual conference. Regional states will also attend, along with parties to the conflict in Libya.

Nevertheless, there are fears that some parties will work to sabotage the conference and incapacitate regional and international efforts aiming at brining the Libyan crisis to an end.

There are, meanwhile, indications that the Libyans can reach a deal soon.

The virtual conference in Berlin comes amid encouraging signs in Libya, the deputy head of the German delegation to the United Nations said.

He added that Germany has hopes that the conference can suspend what he described as continual violations of the ban on the export of arms to Libya, which has been in effect since 2011.

He added that the conference would also aim to strengthen the role of the United Nations in finding a political solution to the Libyan crisis.

Commitment

Germany will ask the countries and the parties attending the conference to renew their commitment to the recommendations of the Berlin conference on Libya in January.

The planned conference comes as Libyan parties hold talks in the northern Moroccan city of Bouznika.

The talks faced problems in the past few days and had consequently been postponed.