MUNICH (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th February, 2020) The African Union is determined to organize a reconciliation conference between Libyans prior to the country's next general election, Smail Chergui, the union's commissioner for peace and security, told Sputnik.
The general election was scheduled to take place in Libya in the beginning of 2019, but was derailed by the Libyan National Army's Tripoli offensive.
"Hopefully, if things go well, we will be in a position to start organizing the conference on reconciliation between the Libyans before the election," Chergui said on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.
He stressed that the union wanted the event "as soon as possible," but everything would depend on the situation "on the ground."
"I think for the time-being definitely we will organize it in Africa. We have in mind also the offer from Algeria to facilitate that dialogue," the commissioner added.
The African Union is determined to play its role in the Libyan peace process, according to Chergui.
"It is really a mission that was clarified both at the level of the high level committee of heads of state in Brazzaville, then we have this regional meeting, which was held on January, 23, of all the neighboring countries. Plus the last summit just finished in Addis Ababa, where we really clarified what we are going to do," he said.
Libya has been engulfed an armed power struggle between two political factions, an elected parliament in the country's east, supported by the Libyan National Army, led by Khalifa Haftar, and the UN-backed Libyan Government of National Accord in the west, headed by Fayez Sarraj. The international community has been trying to bring the conflicting sides together to end the crisis in the country.
On January 31, the African Union High Level Committee on Libya was organized in the Congolese capital of Brazzaville. The participants agreed on setting up an intra-Libyan reconciliation conference, open to all parties in the conflict.
