This is a real scoop of La Stampa. The general who controls Cyrenaica, Khalifa Haftar was in Rome on January 8 to meet with US Deputy National Security Advisor Victoria Coates (in charge of Libya and North Africa), and Richard Norland, American ambassador for Libya. The news emerged by crossing the information received from various Italian and American officials.
The United States, writes La Stampa, has always supported the government of Fayez Sarraj, who has always been flanked by the United Nations special representative for the Libyan crisis, Ghassan Salamé. However, for nearly a year, Washington has also been in contact with Haftar. It all began with a phone call from Donald Trump to the Benghazi general on April 15. Trump's phone call created an embarrassment in the State Department (our foreign ministry).
On November 24 the first meeting in Benghazi. Haftar met with a delegation chaired by Victoria Coates and Richard Norland, plus Matthew Zais, deputy assistant secretary to the US Department of Energy, and Brigadier General Steven de Milano, deputy director of Usafricom.
The Americans had promised a first-rate role to Haftar as long as the Russian contractors were removed from the Libyan affairs.
The US embassy in Libya said the reason for the November meeting had been "the effort to find a political solution to the conflict in light of the escalation of the Russian military intervention».
The meeting that took place in Rome between the Americans and the Haftar delegation could mark the beginning of the much desired "descalation".
Al Serraj was also in Rome where he placed his conditions: "We welcome the initiative of Russia and Turkey but only on condition that Haftar withdraws ”.
In the evening, General Haftar announced the "ceasefire".
So the Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte"I strongly represented in Haftar that Italy works for peace and I expressed my dismay at the attack on the military academy in Tripoli. "
Also Vladimir Putin - who supports Haftar - launched a message to the general after meeting German Chancellor Angela Merkel: "I count a lot that at midnight, as we exhorted with Erdogan, the conflicting parties will cease fire and stop hostilities: then we would like to hold further consultations with them ".
Giuseppe Conte then phoned French President Emmanuel Macron, reiterating the fundamental importance of "European coordination. At this point the importance of the Berlin conference returns. Merkel has assured that it will be held shortly.
"The Libyans are the only ones entitled to decide their future and every process will have to be inclusive and intralibic, but where the parties agreed, given that we have reached a ceasefire (hoping that after Haftar's announcement it will be respected by all), as the EU I think it is appropriate to think of an initiative that can guarantee an agreement ". So the Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio in an interview with 'La Stampa'. It is a proposal, the minister observes, “that must start from them. And only in a framework of international legality enshrined in the UN. Let's avoid the violent mistakes of 2011. No forcing and interference, but the alternative cannot be to watch while others arm the parties involved ".
The mission, Di Maio clarifies, could be with the involvement of European blue helmets: "It would be the only way to stop external interference, the massacre of innocent civilians and to give the EU a single voice". A mission on the Lebanon model? With Italian soldiers? "The Lebanon model is one of those true UN peacekeeping missions, where our soldiers have integrated perfectly and where the Italian guide has made the difference".
“Now there is the Berlin Conference, which we strongly support. After the truce, the peace process will be important, which is why we are also focusing heavily on the Italy-Russia-Turkey table, which will not be in competition but preparatory. It is crucial for us - he underlines - to be part of a trilateral in which we have never been ".