Al-Serraj wants Russia to persuade Haftar to be part of Libya’s GNA

BY Libyan Express Feb 20, 2017 - 15:45

Fayez al-Sarraj, prime minister of the UN-backed government in Libya. Photograph: Mohamed Messara/EPA

The Head of the Presidential Council of the Government of National Accord (GNA) Fayez Al-Serraj, said he would like to see Russia helping his government to overcome crisis in Libya.

Fayez Al-Serraj told Reuters on Sunday that he is hopeful that Russia might act as an intermediary between him and Khalifa Haftar, the eastern commander of the Operation Dignity backed by the Tobruk-based House of Representatives (HoR) and strongly favoured by The Kremlin.

Days ago,Egypt talked to the Tripoli and eastern factions, which are both vying for control of the whole country. However, it failed to engineer a meeting between the two key figures, Seraj and Haftar.

“We hope that Russia will play a positive role in resolving the Libyan crisis,” he said on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

“We hope that anyone getting involved in Libya will have a positive effect in the sense that the message that I want to sit down with the other Libyan parties reaches them.” Al-Serraj told Reuters.

Eastern commander Haftar and HoR Speaker, Agilah Saleh, both visited Moscow last year to strengthen ties with the Russians.

Lately, Haftar toured the Russian aircraft carrier off Tobruk shores in the Mediterranean, where he met with defence officials and had reportedly signed armament deals.

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