UN envoy to Libya’s phone call with Haftar casts doubt on death news

The UN envoy to Libya, Ghassan Salame, said early on Saturday that he and the commander of the self-styled Libyan army Khalifa Haftar had conversed on the phone for about ten minutes, casting doubt on earlier news that Haftar died in a Paris hospital after being hospitalized for a stroke and a cerebral bleed. 

An Egyptian MP, Mustafa Bakry, first broke the news and said Haftar died in Paris, but later he withdrew the statement and said he was told Haftar was OK.

A French reporter for L’News, Hugeux Vincen, said his contacts called Haftar and he seemed “OK.”

The spokesman for the forces of Haftar in east Libya, Ahmed Al-Mismari, said commenting on the matter, “These are rumors and Haftar is fine. He will return to Benghazi soon.”