PALERMO, Italy, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) -- Two major rival representatives of the Libyan parties, Prime Minister of UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) Fayez al-Sarraj and General Khalifa Haftar of the Libyan National Army, met on Tuesday morning on the sidelines of a two-day Conference for Libya running here on Nov. 12-13.
The meeting was brokered by Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, who had a long bilateral meeting with general Haftar on Monday evening, a source with the Italian government told reporters here at the summit.
UN Special Envoy for Libya Ghassan Salame was present at the relevant sideline meeting, which took place behind close doors and before the main plenary session scheduled on this second and final day of the conference, which General Haftar was not expected to join.
Representatives from key regional and global actors keen to stabilize the northern African country also took part in the meeting, including Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev, Egyptian President Abdel Fatah Al Sisi, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, Algerian Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia, Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi, and President of the European Union (EU) Council Donald Tusk.
No official declarations were made after such talks.
According to the Italian government's source, however, the basis of talks between al-Sarraj and Haftar was the new transition plan recently forwarded by UN envoy Salame, which calls for a Libyan national conference and elections to be held in the country in the first half of 2019.
One picture with Fayez al-Sarraj and Gen. Haftar shaking hands alongside Italy's Conte, and a second of all participants in the meeting were later published by the Italian government on social media.
The presence of Libya's eastern strongman Haftar to the Conference for Libya here in Palermo has been uncertain until the very last moment.
Haftar finally arrived late on Monday evening, but his office made clear he would not attend the roundtable talks with all of the other Libyan counterparts and international participants here.
The Conference for Libya was organized by Rome in collaboration with the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNISMIL) "to provide a tangible contribution to the stabilization process in the country" and to promote progress "in the fields of security and economy", Italian authorities said ahead of the event.
