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By Libya Herald reporter.
Benghazi, 27 October 2016:
The commander-in-chief of the Libyan armed forces appointed by the House of Representatives, Field Marshal Khalifa Hafter, has had fresh talks in Abu Dhabi on Libyan defence needs and the wider problems in the region.
Met on arrival yesterday by Mohammad Al-Bawardi, the UAE’s minister of state for defence affairs, and himself uncharictaristically dressed in civilian clothes, Hafter explained the current situation in Libya to the minister as well as ways of strengthening Libyan-Emirati relations.
Hafter, whose visit came a day after that of UN Special Envoy Martin Kobler to the UAE, has not yet returned to Libya. According to officials, his visit there was part of a wider regional tour.
In an interesting development, the UAE news agency WAM has not mentioned the visit. For their part, though, officials in Hafter’s operational seat of Marj say that the meeting came at the request of US officials who want to convince him to support the GPA.
So far there has been no report of that either. However, a US Congressional committee was also in Abu Dhabi yesterday and met the Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Defence, Matar Salim Ali Al Dhaheri.
Last month, Faiez Serraj, the head of the Presidency Council, and his team flew to Abu Dhabi for talks with senior UAE officials.
