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By Libya Herald reporters.
Tunis and London, 16 September 2017:
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is expected to outline a fresh Libyan peace initiative next week during the UN General Assembly (UNGA) meeting
New UNSMIL chief Ghassan Salamé briefed Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov on the new plan during his visit yesterday to Moscow. Since he took up the job last month Salamé has busily canvassed opinion throughout Libya except in the south where his trip had to be cancelled for “technical reasons”.
After his meeting with Lavrov, Salamé sent a social media message saying that Guterres would be talking to heads of state on the margins of the UNGA.the UNSMIL chief is said to have set out his plans in London three days ago.. It is likely that he will have sought to impress upon the Russians, every bit as he did on the Americans, British, Italians and French in London last week that he does not want a plethora of uncoordinated initiatives from different countries.
Also in Moscow yesterday was Presidency Council (PC) deputy chairman Ahmed Maetig who had talks with Russia’s deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov. Maetig, who had flown on from a meeting in the Russian autonomous province of Chechnya where he had talks with its president Ramzan Kadyrov, said Russia an important role to play in Libya and Bogdanov said that Moscow remained committed to the political process based on Libya’s unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity. However, the Russian politician also pressed Maetig over two remaining crew members of the Russian vessel the Temeteron, Captain Vladimir Tekuchev and Chief Officer Sergey Samoilov held since 2016. He also pushed for the return of the Russian cargo ship Merle whose crew were released in April and May.
