Over the last years, competing factions and militias have sprouted up controlling different parts of Libya, leaving foreign powers to back or oppose a sometimes bewildering array of groups. Where do key regional powers in the Gulf, Turkey, neighbour Egypt as well as Russia and key EU players France and Italy stand? Egypt, Saudi and UAE: Haftar’s alliesOn one side of the struggle is Haftar, the military commander and strongman of eastern Libya. And on the other Fayez al-Sarraj, who leads the United Nations-endorsed Government of National Accord, which has control of Tripoli. “France and Italy are on the same wavelength,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian claimed on Saturday.

Source: The North Africa Journal April 08, 2019 15:33 UTC