ROME (AP) — A gathering of leaders of Libya’s quarrelling factions and of countries keen on stabilizing the North African nation in Sicily aims to find a political settlement that would bolster the fight against Islamic militants and stop illegal migrants crossing the Mediterranean to Europe’s southern shores.
But the meeting’s chances of success appear uncertain, not least because of the difficulties involved in any attempt to get all stakeholders — two rival administrations, unruly militias with considerable firepower and an ambitious army general — to agree on a road map that would reunite Libya after seven years of chaos and bloodshed.
Gen. Khalifa Hifter, commander of the self-styled Libyan National Army, is unlikely to go to the two-day even opening Monday in Palermo. Hifter’s absence would render the meeting largely irrelevant.