The international conference on Libya will finally be held this Sunday, January 19, 2020 in Berlin, announced Germany, this Tuesday, January 14.
Many times postponed, the Berlin conference which will be held under the aegis of the UN to try to create the conditions of a peace process in Libya in the grip of a civil war, will see the participation of several guest countries.
However, a doubt still hovers on the participation of the two direct belligerents on the ground, Marshal Khalifa Haftar and the head of government recognized by the UN (GNA), Fayez al-Sarraj, invited to participate in the conference but who have still not confirmed their presence.
In a press release, Germany announces that the United States, Russia, Great Britain, France, China, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Congo, Italy, Egypt, Algeria, the UN, the European Union, the African Union and the Arab States League were invited to participate in this conference.
The Berlin conference is part of a process initiated by Ghassam Salamé, head of the United Nations support mission in Libya (Manul). This process has three phases: the first being the immediate ceasefire, the second an agreement between the active countries in Libya to withdraw and strengthen the existing United Nations on arms embargo and the third is to achieve a purely inter-Libyan peaceful solution.
It should be remembered, in this context that on January 6, 2020, the Presidency of the Republic announced in a statement, that the head of state Kais Saied, had received a telephone call from the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel.
The German Chancellor invited the President of the Republic to make an official visit to Germany. The presidency also announced that the interview focused in particular on developments in the region and in particular the Libyan file.
On the other hand, the press release did not specify if the President of the Republic was invited to attend the Berlin conference on Libya.
In the evening, the communications officer in the Presidency of the Rachida Ennaifer Republic confirmed, moreover that the President of the Kais Republic Saied had not been invited to participate in the Berlin conference on Libya.
However, from what we know, there was never any question of the participation of Tunisia in the Berlin conference, at least on the side of Germany. The visit of the German Minister of Foreign Affairs, Heiko Maas, in Tunis in October 2019, had been an opportunity to clarify things on both sides and despite the insistence of the Tunisian part, Berlin did not deign to invite Tunisia.
