Libya’s rivals fail to meet in Cairo to discuss settlement
CAIRO — Two leading Libyan rivals — the head of the U.N.-brokered government and the country’s most powerful army commander — failed to meet as planned in Cairo on Tuesday to discuss a political settlement for the war-torn nation.
A spokesman for the unity government had earlier said that Fayez Serraj’s planned meeting with Field Marshal Khalifa Hifter could lead to a “180-degree turn.”
The spokesman, Ashraf al-Tulty, said he hoped the Egyptian government will help bridge the gap. Egypt strongly supports Hifter.
Serraj’s government has failed over the past year in unifying Libya, which slid into chaos after the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi.