Africa Intelligence said that following Emmanuel Macron and Paris, it's Rome that will have to organise the next international conference dedicated to Libya, adding that the date of this conference, which will take place under the leadership of Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, has not yet been set and is still dependent on the progress of the electoral process.
"However, that process continues to fall behind schedule. While the legislative and presidential elections are still scheduled for 24 December, the Libyan High National Election Commission (HNEC) announced on 11 December the postponement of the publication of the final list of candidates. The presence of Saif Al Islam Gaddafi and General Khalifa Haftar on the list is practically a declaration of war for several of the militias in western Libya." Africa Intelligence added.
It also indicated that Italian diplomacy is therefore wavering between holding the conference before 24 December, to reaffirm the importance of maintaining the elections, or holding it after this deadline in order to draw up a new electoral calendar, saying that the second option could well become necessary.
After insisting for a long time on the importance of organizing the polls on the scheduled date, several European capitals, including Rome, have resigned themselves to their postponement and now stress that 24 December corresponds to the start of the electoral process.
"This was formalised in the final text of the 12 November conference in Paris, which, while repeatedly calling for elections to be held on 24 December, took note of the "electoral timetable... starting" on that date as announced by the Libyan authorities." It explained.
The website said the Italian conference is expected to adopt a similar format to the Paris conference, which was co-chaired by the United Nations, Libya, France, Germany and Italy.
