Putin’s visit to Libya… Missing agenda and a vague date
Since the head of Libya’s interim government, Abdel Hamid Dbeibah, revealed a visit to the country by Russian President Vladimir Putin, speculation has been rife about the date.
Dbeibah expects Putin to visit Libya soon, but no date has been set; He only referred to his country’s efforts to work to rebuild trust with the major Powers.
The Italian magazine Formica attempted to unveil a new agenda and date for the visit through Russian officials, but they responded with reservations saying that Putin’s visit to Tripoli had not yet been organized, without denying the subject.
The Italian magazine read, in the announcement by the head of the Libyan government of a possible visit by Putin, a desire by Dbeibah to build a strong international consensus; about the stability he has led since taking office, with the purpose of pushing the country into elections scheduled for December.
Russian government officials told the magazine in this context that “the head of the Libyan government is hoping that the Russian president will arrive in Libya, while nothing has been agreed yet.”
The magazine noted that last Saturday, when Dbeibah spoke about Putin’s possible visit, the Russian president had a phone conversation with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron; “Libya is likely to be a point of contact with Paris, which has dramatically changed its position on the Libya file”.
Key player
According to Formeiki, Russia is a key player in the Libyan context and is a permanent member of the UN Security Council, which coordinates the stabilization process, which the Libyan Political Dialog Forum had entrusted to Dbeibah and to lead the country to the elections scheduled for the end of the year.
As Libya awaits Putin’s visit, the Inter-Libyan Dialog failed to reach a consensus on a constitutional basis for holding the country’s next elections on time.
Assistant Secretary-General and Coordinator of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya, Raiszdon Zenenga, said that the differences had divided the forum members and had sharpened their focus on the outstanding issues.
The UN official explained that the failure to reach an agreement does not mean that the meeting failed, and he called on the forum members to put the interest of Libya in the first place. He stressed that the UN mission will continue to work with the forum members and the agreement committee to hold another meeting of the Libyan political dialog meeting soon.
