Foreign fighters delay Libya poll bid

BERLIN: International powers met in Berlin yesterday to push for the removal of foreign fighters from Libya and prepare for December elections, months after brokering a ceasefire aimed at ending a decade of conflict in the North African oil exporter.

The event, co-hosted by Germany and the UN, gathered officials from Libya’s new transitional government as well as foreign ministers from the US, Europe and regional powers including Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, which were militarily involved on opposite sides of an ultimately futile battle for the capital.

A UN-mediated truce agreed in October ended fighting that began in April 2019 and descended into a proxy war involving the UAE, Russia and Turkey.