23 – 29 October: German foreign minister and UN Envoy discussed the Berlin conference in Tripoli

Oct 31, 2019 | International actors

On 26 October, the Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Libya, Joshua Harris, travelled to Benina, just east of Benghazi, to meet with notable eastern figures and discuss “efforts to end the fighting around Tripoli and seek justice for US victims of the 11 September 2012 attack against US diplomatic facilities in Benghazi”. Harris reportedly reiterated the US stance of supporting the UN-mediated political peace process, and raised concerns over civilian casualties and the need to secure crucial infrastructure.

On 27 October, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas flew to Libya to meet with the head of the Government of National Accord (GNA) Fayez al-Serraj and UN Envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame. In a statement, the German Foreign Office re-iterated its support for the Salame’s action plan for peace in Libya. In the wake of the meeting Salame stated, “The Berlin conference efforts are very serious and are backed by very significant stakeholders. There must be a committee that would be tasked with following up on the implementation of all understandings and this is something all previous conference have lacked.”

On 23-24 October, the Russian government hosted the first Africa-Russia Summit and Economic Forum in Sochi, which was attended by Serraj. A delegation from eastern Libya, led by the parallel government’s Foreign Minister Abdul Hadi Hwej, also attended the Sochi summit and held several high-level meetings on the side-line of the summit