On 24 May, writer Kamel Abdallah published an article for Al-Arham Weekly analysing the competition for influence in Libya between France and Italy. According to the author, tensions between the two powers are growing, as they pursue different agendas in Libya. While Italy has been primarily focused on the control of migration, France has seemingly been developing further interests in Libya’s oil sector as well as trying to become a central actor in the resolution of the political crisis. The author analyses France’s recent initiative to resolve Libya’s political stalemate by holding a meeting in Paris between Libyan political rivals as another way to expand French influence in Libya and secure its interests in a post-crisis Libya. However, thus far, the extent to which France is capable of influencing Libyan politics appears limited as the previous meeting, which took place in Paris in July 2017, did not result in any major developments on the ground. Moreover, France’s calls for internationally supervised parliamentary and presidential elections before the end of the year have been met with reservations from the international community.Click here to read the article in full.
France’s Libyan agenda