Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades on Friday joins world powers in France to push for elections in Libya by year-end and endorse efforts to remove foreign forces from the oil-producing nation despite growing political wrangling.
Almost 30 countries and organisations are in Paris for the conference, including Libya’s neighbours, and countries that have been split over the conflict.
Despite an initial flat rejection of France’s invitation by the Turkish and Russian heads of state, both Ankara and Moscow have sent lower level representatives.
Libya’s election targeted for December 24 was set through a U.N.-backed roadmap adopted last year that also established an interim unity government to take over from rival administrations in east and west that had been warring for years.
The process is seen as a chance to end the decade of instability and warfare following the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that ousted Muammar Gaddafi and has since drawn in regional powers in a threat to wider Mediterranean stability.
With disputes on the legal basis for the election, major factions on both sides may reject the vote, potentially causing another violent schism.
