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GNA prime minister Fayez Al Sarraj with French president Emmanuel Macron and Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, commander of the Libyan National Army. Philippe Wojazer / Reuters

The cause of peace has made a great deal of progress today, French president Emanuel Macron declared on Tuesday, referring to the outcome of the deliberations between Libyas prime minister and its most powerful general. Mr Macron had brought together Fayez Al Sarraj, head of the UN-backed Libyan unity government, and Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar under one roof to negotiate an end to Libyas years-long conflict. The agreement that emerged from their talks, building on their last meeting in Abu Dhabi on May 3, merits the solemn praise lavished on it by Mr Macron. The joint declaration signed by Field Marshal Haftar and Mr Al Sarraj is both comprehensive and visionary. Both sides agree that only a political solution accompanied by a national reconciliation process can rescue Libya from the ongoing crisis. To achieve this, both men have committed themselves to a ceasefire; arms will not be used for any purpose that does not strictly constitute counterterrorism. The two sides have agreed to work in earnest on drafting a new constitution, building democratic institutions, and instituting the rule of law. They have pledged to begin work on unifying Libya, and to make efforts to integrate freelance fighters into regular forces or disarm and help them rejoin civilian life. Parliamentary and presidential elections will be held as soon as possible, and further talks will be pursuant to the deal brokered by Mr Macron. After three years of conflict, this agreement represents the opening of a pathway for peace. But the magnitude of this moment must not blind us to the enormity of the challenges that lie ahead. Field Marshal Haftar and Mr Al Sarraj have not just committed to ending the bitter war raging in Libya. They have embarked on a nation-building project. Libyas history makes it inimical to such ambitions. Muammar Qaddafi diligently hollowed out the countrys institutions during his long decades of misrule. Libyas new leaders have no native inheritance to build upon. They must start from scratch. The Libyans states loss of legitimacy under Mr Gaddafi will only add to the difficulty of convincing Libyans to place renewed trust in the state. Will the militiamen who run the myriad warring outfits that have sprung up across Libya give up their arms to unify behind a single source of power? Will ordinary Libyans, who were brutally betrayed by the ancien regime, feel secure enough to engage freely and openly in a reconciliation process set in motion by a new government? Field Marshal Haftar and Mr Al Sarraj have shown great courage in burying their differences for the good of Libya. Each needs the other, and their joint efforts, if sustained and supported by the world, can yield genuinely positive results for Libya. But the road to peace is a long one. As they put their plan into action, it might be prudent to temper our expectations.

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The long road to peace and reconciliation in Libya - The National

French President Emmanuel Macron brought together two of the principal rival leaders of Libya and, in Paris on Tuesday, won joint pledges of a ceasefire and elections next year.

There are causes for skepticism of the solidity of the accord and clear barriers still to be overcome. However, there is no question that the agreement is important for Libya and the region and a step in the right direction.

Libya has had a tormented history since its leader, Moammar Gadhafi was overthrown and killed in 2011. Its population of 6 million has known basically nothing but conflict since American, Arab, British and Italian military intervention brought about regime change in the formerly oil-rich, authoritarian state.

It currently has at least three governments: the Tobruk-based eastern one, led more or less by Gen. Khalifa Haftar; a United Nations-based Government of National Accord in Tripoli, the ostensible Libyan capital, led by Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj; and the National Salvation Government, also based in Tripoli. There are also across the country various tribal and local armed militias, which answer basically to no one.

Apart from what peace and elections can mean to Libyans, there is a more important regional issue that stability in that country could help to ameliorate. With no effective government and an 1,100-mile-long Mediterranean coastline, Libya has become the center of a marketplace for human trafficking from troubled, poor African and Middle Eastern countries. The migrants destination is Western Europe, across the Mediterranean Sea.

It is estimated that some 100,000 migrants have crossed since January, up 17 percent from the same period last year, and that some 2,300 have died in the process, including many women and children. What has occurred is virtually more than the world can bear to see, and the only way to stop it is to somehow restore law and order to Libya.

Prospects for success are shaky. There have been other tentative Libyan agreements. The third government, the National Salvation group, was not at the Paris talks. Gen. Haftar is backed by the governments of Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, with a history of support from the CIA. He is ambitious, with his armies controlling two-thirds of the country, including its second city, Benghazi. He had previously threatened to attack Tripoli, the headquarters of the two rival groups. His government also controls most of Libyas oil facilities.

But this new effort is certainly worth a shot, given the stakes for Libyans and the region, including southern Western Europe, especially France and Italy. The Italian government is cross at not having been involved in the negotiations that Macron organized, given its colonial past and oil interests in Libya. However, France, too, once governed part of the country. The Italians had coastal Tripolitania and Cyrenaica; France, the desert Fezzan in the south.

The Libyan accord, if it holds, is clearly a feather in the cap of the new French president. So far, Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is active in the Qatar Middle Eastern dispute, have stepped up to the plate in trying to resolve international conflicts as the United States has stepped back, preoccupied with domestic political issues.

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Good steps in Libya: France's moves can help stem migrant tide - Manhattan Mercury (subscription)

BBC News

Migrant crisis: Italy backs force to police Libya shore BBC News Italy's cabinet has backed sending a mission to Libya to try to stem the influx of migrants. The mission would help Libya "reinforce their capacity to control their borders and national territory", said Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni. It would ... Italy OKs naval support to help Libya fight traffickingWashington Post Libya Leaders Handshake on Paris Peace Deal Covers Up Deep FracturesThe Wire EU Gives 46 Million Euros to Italy to Help Protect Libya BordersU.S. News & World Report Manhattan Mercury (subscription) all 98 news articles »

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Migrant crisis: Italy backs force to police Libya shore - BBC News

Benghazi - Authorities in eastern Libya backed by military strongman Khalifa Haftar on Thursday ordered the closure of a Sudanese consulate and the expulsion of 12 diplomats, a pro-Haftar news agency announced.

It said the order to shut down the mission in Kufra, an oasis in southern Libya, was taken on the grounds of "damage to Libyan national security".

The consul and 11 consular staff were given 72 hours to leave the country, which has been mired in anarchy since its 2011 revolution that toppled its longtime leader Moammar Gaddafi.

Sudan's embassy in Tripoli is closed but a consulate with limited personnel serves Sudanese living in the capital, according to its Facebook page.

Officials in Khartoum have accused Haftar of enlisting rebels from Sudan's Darfur region to fight alongside his forces, while the field marshal has charged that Sudan supports "terrorists" in Libya.

Khartoum recognises the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord of UN-backed prime minister Fayez al-Sarraj, a rival of Haftar and Libya's eastern authorities supported by his forces.

According to officials in Khartoum, dozens of young Sudanese - both men and women - have been killed in Libya fighting in the ranks of the Islamic State jihadist group.

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Haftar's Libya expels 12 Sudan diplomats - News24

July 27, 2017 RomeSending Italian naval units to help Libya's coast guard could prove to be a "turning point" in efforts to stop traffickers from sending hundreds of thousands of migrants toward Italy's southern shores, Premier Paolo Gentiloni said Thursday.

With the foundering of a European Union plan to redistribute thousands of migrants rescued at sea and brought to Italy, Mr. Gentiloni said his center-left government would brief lawmakers next week about Libya's request for Italian navy vessels to patrol its Mediterranean shores.

Libyan Prime Minister Fayez Serraj, who leads a United Nations-backed unity government based in Tripoli, met in Rome with the Italian leader on Wednesday and asked for the assistance. Gentiloni said his government was working out the details of a proposed naval mission.

"The request that came to us from the Tripoli government for collaboration and assistance for the Libyan coast guard can be a turning point in handling the situation," Gentiloni said. "The fact that the Libyan authorities ask Italy to collaborate, and not to substitute, [in the role of] fighting traffickers is important."

The premier noted that Italy already has furnished Libya's coast guard with speedboats and training aimed at improving Libya's own patrols. Traffickers, exploiting widespread lawlessness in the violence-wracked, fractured north African nation, have sent hundreds of thousands of migrants in unseaworthy smuggling boats toward Italy over the last few years.

Military ships from European nations, vessels organized by aid organizations and commercial cargo frequently pick up men, women and children making the perilous Mediterranean Sea crossing. Lately, most of those rescued at sea have been economic migrants from African nations unlikely to win asylum.

Italy has acknowledged the problem of what might happen to migrants who are prevented from reaching Italy and returned to Libya. Rescued migrants have told Italian authorities and humanitarian organizations about torture, rape, forced labor, beatings and other atrocities they suffered in Libyan camps while awaiting their turn to be smuggled out by sea.

The Italian government's strategy foresees international organizations on the ground helping to guarantee the proper treatment of those forced to return to Libya and their eventual repatriation to their homelands. However, organizations that work with refugees have expressed doubts that Libya's deteriorated security situation would allow them to properly carry out such a humanitarian mission.

Analysts have said that some of the very militias that support Mr. Serraj and help him hold on to power in western Libya also profit from trafficking, complicating chances for the success of anti-trafficking patrols. Meanwhile, long stretches of Libya's coastline are not under the control of Serraj's supporters.

Lawmakers from Italy's far-left parties might balk at approving a naval mission to Libya. But any lack in their support could be compensated by center-right opposition lawmakers who have been demanding more vigorous efforts to stem the flow of migrants to Italy.

"I am certain of the results with the vote of Parliament," Gentiloni said.

Italy's next general election is scheduled to take place in less than a year.

Earlier this week, Serraj and rival Libyan leader Gen. Khalifa Hifter, the Egyptian-backed commander of Libya's self-styled national army, met in France and pledged to back a cease-fire and to work toward national elections.

French President Emmanuel Macron has appeared eager to gain influence in Libya, which is rich in oil and natural gas.

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Libyan request for troops may be 'turning point' in Italian migrant situation - Christian Science Monitor