Sisi arrives in UAE with Hafter and Serraj still in Abu Dhabi

By Jamie Prentis.

Tunis, 3 May 2017:

Egyptian president Abdel Fattah Sisi has arrived in the UAE for talks with Emirati leaders, but also reportedly to see Khalifa Hafter and Faiez Serraj who remain in Abu Dhabi.

While it is not yet confirmed that he will meet the Presidency Council head and Libyan National Army (LNA) chief, Sisi has long sought to bring the two together. He has put considerable pressure on Hafter to step up negotiations with the west of the country.

This included his failed initiative to  set up a meeting in Cairo this February where Hafter refused to see Serraj, a decision that irritated the Egyptian president.

Italy’s Chief of Defence Staff, Claudio Graziano also was in Abu Dhabi yesterday though it is not clear if he played any part in the Hafter-Serraj summit.

Graziano, a former head of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon has in the past acted as emissary for the Italians and visited the Italian military field hospital in Misrata last December.